FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


DMsioa       S<^B 
Section  /  V7f  3 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://archive.org/details/sectarianismOOblai 


[DEC  Ml  ' 

THE  ^ — ■ 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  SECTARIANISM;, 


A    CLASSIFIED    VIEW 


CHRISTIAN  SECTS  IX  THE  UNITED  STATES ; 

VTITH  NOTICES   OF  THEIR 

PROGRESS   AND   TENDENCIES. 

ILLUSTRATED  BY  HISTORICAL   FACTS   AND  ANECDOTES. 

■  Believe  not  every  spirit,  but  try  the  iplrita."  —  1  Johs  iv.  1. 

BY  THE  V<S 

REV.  ALEXANDER   BLAIKIE, 

PA8TOR  OF  THE  ASSOCIATE  REFORMED  (THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN) 
CHURCH,    BOSTON. 

BOSTON: 
PHILLIPS,   SAMPSON,   AND    COMPANY. 
1854.     . 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854,  by 

Alexander  Blaikie, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  THE 
BOSTON  STEREOTYPE  fOONDBY. 


DEDICATION. 

Little  Book,  for  patronage  you  have  no  appeal  to  make  to  any 
rich,  mighty,  nor  honorable  man  by  name.  "  God  helps  those  who 
help  themselves."  So  you  will  find  it.  Go,  then,  on  your  mission. 
There  are  books  enough,  it  is  true,  if  numbers  alone  are  reckoned, 
without  you,  for  "  of  making  many  books  there  is  no  end  ;  "  but  the 
world  is  wide,  and  while  ten  readers  may  curse  you,  one  may  bid  you 
"  God  speed."  If,  however,  you  should  become  the  enemy  of  ninety- 
nine  in  one  hundred,  because  you  tell  them  the  truth,  still  go  your 
errand ;  ask  a  perusal,  and  a  thought,  and  a  second  thought,  and  a 
"  second  sober  thought "  from  your  readers. 

So  far  as  you  "  speak  the  truth  in  love,"  may  the  God  of  truth  bless 
your  instrumentality  in  the  formation  of  more  correct  opinions  in 
relation  to  the  doctrine,  government,  worship,  and  discipline  of  the 
Christian  church. 

(3) 


PREFACE. 


The  agitation  and  commotion,  civil,  social,  and 
ecclesiastical,  which  surround  the  intelligent  observer, 
indicate  that  there  is  much  to  prevent  the  reign  of 
peace  and  good  will  on  earth. 

Several  "  signs  of  the  times "  are  apparent.  One 
of  these  is  a  proneness  to  cherish  superstition,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  mystical  lore  of  tradition,  (or  at  best  the 
assertions  of  early  historians,)  in  the  ecclesiastical  cur- 
rency of  certain  sects,  and  of  individuals  enamoured 
with  some  of  their  peculiarities,  as  at  par  with  the 
word  of  God.  A  second  is  a  tendency  to  multiply 
religious  sects,  by  the  division  of  those  already  exist- 
ing, and  by  the  formation  of  new  ones.  The  increase 
of  a  spurious  charity,  embracing  oftentimes  error  on 
equality  with  truth,  forms  another.  Hence  the  not 
unfrequent  formation  of  societies,  from  the  (at  least  im- 
plied) supposition  that  the  doctrine,  form  of  govern- 
ment, worship,  and  discipline  which  the  Bible  teaches, 
and  which  give  form  and  character  to  the  visible 
church,  are  partially,  if  not  wholly,  ineffectual  for  the 
elevation  and  purification  of  mankind.  Consequently 
such  associations  are  sometimes  thrust  into  the  room 
and  position  of  the  church  of  Christ,  and  are,  with 

1*  (5) 


6  PREFACE. 

great  complacency,  supposed  to  fill  her  office  and  fulfil 
her  mission.  She  is  oftentimes  thus  left  out  of  sight 
in  these  arrangements  of  men,  and  many  denomina- 
tions suppose  it  to  be  an  exhibition  of  genuine  charity 
to  cry,  "  Art  thou  in  health,  my  brother  ? "  (2  Sam.  xx. 
9)  by  uniting  in  their  defence.  Notwithstanding  all  this 
apparent  friendship  among  the  varied  denominations 
professing  Christianity,  while  "the  doctrine  of  God 
our  Savior"  is  ignored,  sectarian  rancor  is  not  dimin- 
ished ;  and  this  cannot  occur  until  men  know  "  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus." 

The  pretensions  of  modern  charity  are  valueless; 
and  at  the  risk  of  being  reputed  bankrupt  in  this  cur- 
rency, I  proceed  to  present  to  the  reader  a  classified 
view  of  the  various  Christian  sects  in,  at  least,  one 
portion  of  Christendom,  by  which  he  will  be  enabled 
to  remove  the  mastic  from  the  modern  image,  and  to 
look  with  a  more  delighted  eye  upon  that  "  charity," 
which  "  is  not  puffed  up,  which  rejoiceth  in  the  truth, 
which  is  the  very  bond  of  perfectness,  and  which 
never  faileth." 

By  the  same  aid  the  reader  will  be  assisted  in  seeing 
that  both  tradition,  however  hoary,  and  human  history, 
however  valuable,  will  prove  as  unworthy  as  they  are 
unnecessary  to  support  that  superstructure  which  is 
"  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone." 

In  relation  to  the  forms  of  church  polity,  and  those 
who  live  under  them,  the  question  is  not,  which  is 
most  popular?  Nor  is  it  designed  to  condemn  men 
who  live  under  those  which  are  the  less  scriptural. 
Systems  of  church  government,  not  men,  must  here 


PREFACE.  7 

be  the  subject  of  our  study  and  of  our  approbation  or 
rejection.  We  must  know  the  truth,  so  that  the  truth 
may  make  us  free,  remembering  the  words  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "  Every  plant  which  my  heavenly 
Father  hath  not  planted  shall  be  rooted  up."  In  the 
cogent  language  of  Isaac  Taylor,  "  The  question  is  al- 
ways, not  whether  accomplishments,  and  virtues,  and 
piety  exist  within  this  or  that  system,  but  simply 
whether  the  system  itself  be  good  or  evil." 

Alexr.  Blaikie. 
Boston,  August  19,  1854. 


CONTENTS 


PAGK 

Introduction, 11 

CHAPTER 

I.  —  Government  —  Division  into  Three  Parts,       ...  18 

II.  —  Each  Form  of  Government  has  its  specific  View  of  the 

Bible, 34 

III.  —  Each  Form  has  a  specific  Influence  on  Doctrine,    .        .  48 

IV.  —  Each  has  a  distinct  Influence  on  Worship  —  Prayer  and 

Preaching, 59 

V.  —  Each  radical  Division  in  Government  has  a  correspond- 
ing Influence  on  the  Matter  and  Manner  of  Praise, 

as  a  Part  of  divine  Worship.  —  Matter  of  Praise,        .  67 

VL  —  The  Manner  of  Praise, 81 

VII.  —  On  the  Sacraments.  —  Baptism, 97 

VIII.  —  The  Lord's  Supper, 116 

IX.  —  Discipline 125 

X.  —  The  Sanctification  of  the  Sabbath, 132 

XL  —  Their  respective  Influences  on  the  Ministry  and  Pulpit,  141 

XII.  —  On  Revivals, 163 

XIII.  —  Influence  in  the  Place  of  Worship,         .        .        .        .172 

XfV.  —  On  Mission* 136 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV.  —  On  Marriage  and  Incest, 200 

XVI.  —  Their  Influences  on  Domestic  Training,       .        .        .    222 

XVII.  —  Their  Influences  on  Sabbath  Schools,  .        .        .        .231 

XVIII.  —  The  Influences  of  Ecclesiastical  on  Civil  Polity,  .     246 

XIX.  —  Their  Influences  on  mixed  Questions.  —  On  Capital 

Punishment, 262 

XX.  —  Their  respective  Views  of  Witness-bearing  and  Oaths,    274 

XXI.  —  A  Summary  of  comparative  relative  Influences  and 

Tendencies, 279 


Deductions, 806 

Appendix, 323 


THE 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  SECTARIANISM, 


INTRODUCTION. 

A  Presbyterian  licentiate,  from  Nova  Scotia, 
in  May,  1831,  visited  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love. 
For  two  weeks  he  listened  to  the  deliberations  of 
the  General  Assembly,  when  "  God's  way  of  sav- 
ing men,"  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  Rev. 
Albert  Barnes,  was  the  principal  subject  under 
consideration. 

To  one  who  had  never  seen  any  thing  beyond 
the  precincts  of  his  native  province,  and  the  delibera- 
tions of  a  single  synod  who  held  the  Westminster 
confession  of  faith  (excepting  as  it  related  to  ma- 
gistracy) as  the  true  exponent  of  the  word  of  God, 
the  assertions  of  some  reverend  doctors  of  divinity, 
that  they  held  the  doctrines  of  the  said  confession 
of  faith  only  "for  substance,"  presented  to  him 
some   new  ideas,  and   prompted   him   to   inquire, 

(ii) 


12  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

What  type  of  Presbyterianism  is  this  ?  Is  it  the 
genuine,  while  so  widely  different  from  that  which  is 
brought  from  Scotland  and  Ireland,  those  lands  of 
Presbyterian  doctrine  and  martyrdom  ?  Whence, 
also,  those  fine  poetical  effusions  ?  Are  they  better 
than  the  psalms  or  paraphrases  which  in  public 
worship  they  supplant  ? 

As  he  visited  other  cities,  his  field  of  reflection 
on  this  species  of  Presbyterianism  was  extended, 
especially  when  in  Albany  he  heard  the  Rev.  C.  G. 
Finney  cooperating  with  a  pastor  there  *  in  "  a  re- 
vival," and  teaching  men  to  make  to  themselves  a 
new  "  heart,"  or,  according  to  his  own  perverted  use 
of  language,  a  new  "governing  purpose,"  or  pref- 
erence.! 

Again :  when  in  Rochester  he  was  requested  to 
address  a  Sabbath  school  in  "  the  Free  Presbyterian 
Church,"  and  in  doing  so,  mentioned  the  imputa- 
tion of  Adam's  guilt  to  his  posterity,  he  was 
promptly  contradicted  by  the  superintendent,  a 
novice,  who  assured  the  scholars  that  they  were 
"  accountable  only  for  their  own  personal  sins,  and 
that  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  sin  of  Adam, 
nor  of  any  body  else  but  themselves." 

Subsequently  spending  two  Sabbaths  in  New 
York,  besides  the  hymn-singing  types  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  and  Reformed  Dutch,  he  discovered, 
by  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 

*  The  Rev.  Edward  N.  K. 
f  Boston  Volunteer,  vol.  i.  p.  141. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

Stark,  a  different  order  of  Presbyterians,  Scotch  in 
its  origin  and  worship. 

The  middle  walls  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  United 
States  he  could  not  then  comprehend ;  and  without 
being  able  to  solve  his  difficulties,  in  "  looking  to 
the  east  for  light,"  he  visited  the  Puritan  metropolis. 

There  his  perplexity  became  greatly  increased; 
for  in  Boston  he  could  not  find  even  the  Presby- 
terian name.  Worshipping  for  two  Sabbaths,  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  night,  in  splendid  mansions  of 
prayer,  he  could  not  hear  any  clergyman  (excepting 
one  Baptist)  pray  like  "the  publican."  He  cried 
earnestly  for  spiritual  ability ;  the  others  only  re- 
quested some  "  help."  The  local,  denominational, 
ecclesiastical  names  also  increased  his  perplexity. 
What  the  term  Baptist  implied  he  knew,  but  "  Or- 
thodox "  was  something  which  he  could  not  easily 
comprehend. 

Not  only  were  their  doctrines  in  relation  to  origi- 
nal sin  and  election  different  from  his  provincial 
Presbyterian  ones,  but  their  arrangements  in  do- 
mestic worship  (for  he  boarded  in  a  religious 
family)  were  vastly  modernized  in  comparison  with 
the  scene  described  in  the  "  Cotter's  Saturday 
Night."  When,  on  the  street  through  the  week,  at  a 
respectable  person,  he  inquired,  "  Please,  sir,  inform 
me  to  what  denomination  does  this  meeting  house  be- 
long?" he  was  answered,  "I  believe  it  is  Orthodox." 

Indulging  his  curiosity,  he  addressed  his  inform- 
ant, "  Friend,  I  am  a  stranger ;  can  you  tell  me  what 
2 


14  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Orthodox  is?"  To  which  inquiry  he  received  for 
answer,  "  That  one  over  there  is  Unitarian,  and  this 
one,  I  think,  must  be  Orthodox."  "  Amazement ! 
Unitarians !  I  supposed  that  they  were  all  Socinians ; 
and  are  all  that  do  not  belong  to  them  Orthodox  ? 
Can  it  be  so?" 

In  1834  he  visited  "  the  "  then  "  west."  At  Buf- 
falo he  preached  during  two  Sabbaths  to  a  large 
congregation  called  Presbyterians.  In  their  place 
of  worship,  that  Gothic  production  of  "the  dark 
ages,"  the  organ,  and  its  attendants  of  singing  men 
and  singing  women,  occupied  the  front  gallery. 
For  acting  as  the  echo  to  their  organ  loft,  he  was, 
on  leaving  the  house  on  the  second  Sabbath,  as- 
sured that  he  had  made  some  approaches  to  popu- 
larity in  their  estimation. 

"  We  don't  know  which  has  improved,  we  or 
you  ;  but  we  liked  your  sermons  far  better  this  Sab- 
bath than  we  did  last  Sabbath,"  was  the  "  flattering 
unction  "  applied  "  to  his  soul "  on  the  occasion  ; 
while,  after  his  return,  their  pastor  informed  him 
that  his  sermons  were  considered  by  said  congrega- 
tion "  very  scriptural."  This  species  of  Attic  salt, 
after  a  social  interview,  he  could  readily  believe,  did 
not  surcharge  the  weekly  lucubrations  of  that  rev- 
erend gentleman. 

At  Cleveland,  when  conversing  with  a  Presby- 
terian (so  called)  "from  the  east"  about  predesti- 
nation, and  stating  that,  whether  we  could  under- 
stand it  or  not,  this  doctrine  was  taught  in  Scripture 


INTRODUCTION'.  15 

by  such  a  passage  as  this,  "  Him,  being  delivered  by 
the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God, 
ye  have  taken  and  by  wicked  hands  have  crucified 
and  slain,"  he  received  for  answer,  u  O,  that  is  only 
old  catechism,  which  they  taught  to  me  when  I 
was  a  boy.'' 

In  Southern  Ohio  a  prominent  minister  in  the 
General  Assembly  church  assured  him,  that  if  he 
remained  in  the  country  it  would  be  to  his  advan- 
tage to  join  that  denomination.  He,  however,  dis- 
covered some  Presbyterians  less  numerous  and  in- 
fluential, but  also  American  in  their  denomina- 
tional origin,  and  more  scriptural  in  their  worship; 
and  after  five  months  of  intercourse  with  ministers 
of  the  prominent  divisions  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  that  region,  he  became  identified  with 
these. 

Of  the  questions  to  have  been  on  that  occasion 
proposed  to  him,  the  first,  "  Are  you  opposed  to 
slavery?"  he  could  with  his  whole  soul  answer 
affirmatively.  But  the  second,  "  Are  you  willing  to 
abide  by  the  use  of  the  book  of  Psalms,  while  you 
continue  as  a  minister  with  us  ? n  was  of  much 
more  difficult  solution.  He  had  committed  to 
memory  the  "  Scotch  paraphrases,"  and  to  relinquish 
such  beautiful  poetry  was  to  him  a  struggle. 

Could  any  thing  be  wrong  which  had  been  made 
or  used  in  Scotland  ?  Few  provincial  Presbyte- 
rians thought  so ;  yet  his  past  and  growing  obser- 
vation of  the  tendencies  of  hymnology,  whether  in 


16  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  shape  of  "  paraphrases,"  the  "  Psalms  of  David 
imitated  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Watts,"  or  "  Hymns 
for  the  Use  of  the  People  called  Methodists,  by  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley,"  forced  him  to  this  conclusion : 
that  the  songs  of  Jehovah  are  safe,  while  the  best 
of  human  hymns,  by  which  men  supplant  them  in 
divine  worship,  are  of  doubtful  value,  and  sectarian, 
if  not  unwarranted. 

Nine  years  of  labor,  as  a  pastor,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Genesee,  gave  to  him  a  further  field  for  study, 
and  of  knowing  the  tree  by  its  fruits.  Within  the 
limits  of  his  charge,  (extending  over  a  part  of  three 
counties  and  seven  townships,)  ten  different  sects 
had  their  respective  meeting  houses.  For  this 
diversity  there  must  exist  some  adequate  cause. 

As  Grant  Thorburn  thought,  when  he  visited 
New  England,  that  "  the  water  would  be  pure  at 
the  fountain,"  so  a  residence  of  eight  years  in  the 
Puritan  metropolis  has  given  to  the  narrator,  in  con- 
nection wTith  travel  from  Cape  Breton  to  Iowa,  and 
from  Washington  city  to  Montreal,  an  opportunity 
of  distinguishing  things  that  differ,  of  classifying 
to  some  extent  the  prominent  sects,  and  of  marking 
the  tendencies  of  their  peculiarities,  as  well  as  of 
investigating  the  radical  germ  of  their  diversity. 

It  is  obvious  to  every  stranger  who  visits  the 
Northern  States,  that  in  them  there  are  many  sects 
of  religionists.  In  Rhode  Island,  for  example, 
small  as  it  is,  (in  a  population  of  not  above  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls.)  there  are  said  to 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

exist  "  Congregationalism,  old  school  and  new; 
Episcopal,  high  and  low ;  Unitarians,  Transcendental 
and  Orthodox  ;  Methodists,  Protestant  and  Episco- 
pal; Quakers,  Hicksites,  Wilforites,  Gurneyites; 
Baptists,  Calvinistic,  Freewill,  Christian,  Seventh 
Day,  Six  Principle,  and  a  few  Ironsides,  or  '  Allwill,' 
or  '  Hardshells,'  as  they  are  called  south.  Then 
they  have  Swedenborgians,  Roman  Catholics,  Uni- 
versalists,  Nothingarians,  Infidels,  and  Atheists, 
and  recently  one   Presbyterian  church. "  * 

Some  adequate  cause  for  this  diversity  must  exist, 
and  if  an  ingenuous  classification  of  these  and 
other  kindred  sects,  traced  to  their  radical  germs, 
can  be  made,  it  may  subserve  the  interest  of  "  pure 
and  undefiled  religion ; "  and  such  is  the  design  of 
the  present  work. 

*  See  Preacher,  Pitts.,  Pa.,  July  28,  1852. 

2* 


CHAPTER    I. 

GOVERNMENT  — DIVISION  INTO  THREE   PARTS. 

By  an  eloquent  preacher*  it  is  stated,  tha^  in  the 
"  Western  Reserve,"  in  Ohio,  "  there  are  forty-one 
sects,  all  professing  to  believe  the  Bible." 

We  take  this  as  a  sample,  and  trust  that  it  will 
be  considered  a  fair  one.  Forty-one  sects !  Forty- 
one  times  as  many  as  there  were  at  the  period  of 
the  conversion  of  the  apostle  Paul.  Sects  enough 
truly,  and  all  found  in  that  "  New  England  of  the 
west." 

Let  us  inquire  wherein  they  agree,  and  also  ask 
what  are  their  radical  differences,  and  why  might 
they  not  all  be  one,  as  there  is  but  "  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism." 

These  all  profess*  to  believe  the  Bible.  Do  they 
read  it  alike,  or  is  their  medium  of  vision  subjected 
to  diverse  prismatic  influences  ?  In  what  do  they 
differ,  in  doctrine,  government,  worship,  or  disci- 
pline ?  In  doctrine,  as  to  what  we  are  to  believe 
concerning  God,  they  differ.  While  they  admit  his 
being,  some  do  not  believe  that  he  has  any  eternal 

*  The  Rev.  Edward  Norris  Kirk,  in  a  sermon  preached  in  behalf  of 
the  A.  H.  M.  S.,  May,  1843. 

(IS) 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     19 

purpose,  and  others  maintain  that  "  he  purposed 
an  eternal  purpose  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  We 
cannot  consequently  obtain  a  radical  classification 
of  these  forty-one  sects  in  a  synthetic  manner  on 
the  diversified  points  of  doctrine,  and  the  case  is 
about  equally  hopeless  when  we  consider  their 
forms  and  extent  of  discipline ;  while  in  worship 
the  variety  is,  if  possible,  increased  between  the 
deathlike  stillness  which  pervades  the  countenance 
of  the  Papist,  in  adoring  the  milk  or  other  relics 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  gyrations  of  the  Sha- 
kers in  their  fantastic  dance. 

Still  a  natural  classification,  true  to  science, 
philosophy,  fact,  and  revelation,  is  attainable. 
Naturalists,  reasoning  synthetically,  can,  by  the  aid 
of  comparative  anatomy,  take  a  bone  or  two  from 
a  fossil  remain  of  a  former  period,  and  by  this,  or 
these,  determine  the  precise  species  to  which  an 
animal  belonged,  although  long  since  extinct;  tell 
whether  it  was  in  its  nature  aquatic,  amphibious, 
or  solely  an  inhabitant  of  the  dry  land ;  the  food 
upon  which,  by  the  laws  of  its  nature,  it  subsisted, 
and  detail  its  habits,  whether  it  were  predatory  or 
pacific,  graminivorous  or  carnivorous. 

Thus  they  are  enabled  to  clascify  what  would 
otherwise  appear  to  be  only  a  mass  of  confusion, 
and  confirm  the  poetic  aphorism,  that 

"  Order  is  Heaven's  first  law." 

This  mode  of  reasoning  is,  in  science  and  philos- 


20  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

ophy,  considered  safe,  and  can  be  applied  with 
equal  facility,  propriety,  and  utility  to  the  hetero- 
geneous opinions  of  the  said  forty-one  sects,  or  to 
any  number  of  divisions  of  past  or  present  times, 
wherever  men  profess  to  believe  the  Bible. 

This  mode  of  reasoning,  with  a  feasible  hope 
of  classification,  can,  however,  only  be  applied  in 
ecclesiastical  matters  to  church  government. 

The  naturalist  cannot  always  judge  correctly  by 
the  muscle,  veins,  or  arteries  of  animal  remains, 
even  where  they  are  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation, 
while  in  his  investigations  the  bones  will  be  to  him 
usually  a  safe  guide.  Similar  is  the  case  in  the 
chaos  of  religious  sentiment  and  practice  in  relation 
to  doctrine,  government,  worship,  and  discipline, 
which  exists  in  this  country.  There  is  a  framework 
which  underlies,  supports,  moulds,  and  outlives  all 
other  parts  of  this  whole  fabric,  which  is  erected 
on  divine  revelation.  The  doctrine  and  worship 
may  be  both  extensively  varied  from  the  teaching 
and  ordering  of  Scripture,  while,  from  the  same 
causes,  human  depravity  and  unbelief,  discipline 
may  be  totally  neglected;  but  the  government 
forms  the  most  simple  and  least  destructible  part 
of  the  fabric;  and  upon  this,  as  the  supporting 
frame,  are  moulded  our  interpretations  of  Scripture, 
our  estimate  of  its  character  and  authority,  our  be- 
lief of  its  doctrines,  our  worship,  and  our  ecclesi- 
astical discipline. 

Varied  as  are  the  sectarian  names  in  the  United 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     21 

States,  or  even  in  Christendom,  they  can  all  be 
classified  under  three  simple  and  natural  divisions ; 
beyond  which,  either  in  their  simple  conditions  or 
in  their  compounds,  no  name  can  as  an  exception 
be  discovered. 

Prelacy,  Presbyterianism,  and  Congregationalism, 
with  their  compounds,  embrace  the  whole.  The 
first  of  these,  founded  on  the  idea  of  "  apostolical 
succession,"  not  only  claims  (as  its  advocates 
suppose)  to  derive  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
through  the  apostle  Peter,  power  to  ordain,  author- 
ize, and  admit  into  the  ministry,  but  also  power  to 
rule  all  of  subordinate  rank,  even  where  they  "  labor 
in  word  and  doctrine."  Hence  under  this  division 
we  have  different  "  orders  "  of  clergy,  as  pope,  car- 
dinal, archbishop,  bishop,  archdeacon,  dean,  chapter, 
prebendary,  proctor,  vicar,  rector,  curate,  priest, 
deacon,  and  subdeacon. 

The  second,  Presbyterianism,  we  derive  from  the 
scriptural  term  //^tfgu-rspiov,  (1  Tim.  iv.  14,)  "  an 
assembly  of  elders,  the  elders  or  chief  persons  in 
the  Christian  church,  a  Presbytery."  *  These  differ 
from  Prelatists  by  maintaining  that  Christ  gave 
the  power  both  of  ordination  and  of  rule,  not  to 
Peter  alone,  but  to  all  his  apostles  in  an  equal 
degree,  and  after  them  to  all  lawfully  ordained 
ministers  and  ruling  elders  conjointly  assembled 
in  convenient  districts,  and  constituted,  or  coming 
orderly  together,   in   his  name.     With    Prelatists, 

*  Greenfield. 


22  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Presbyterians  claim  the  same  power  of  ordina- 
tion and  of  rule ;  but  they  believe  that  the  king 
and  head  of  the  church  has  placed  that  power  in  a 
different  centre  of  distribution,  and  instead  of  con- 
fiding it  to  one  bishop,  they  think  that  Scripture 
teaches  them  to  place  it  by  his  authority  in  the 
eldership  of  the  church  or  churches,  that  is,  in  the 
hands  of  teaching  and  ruling  elders. 

The  third  division,  while  they  generally  admit 
the  existence  of  the  power,  both  of  ordination  and 
of  rule,  deny,  in  the  face  of  both  Prelacy  and  Pres- 
byterianism,  that  it  was  ever  intrusted  to  any 
bishop  or  presbytery;  and  maintain  that  it  was 
confided  solely  to  the  people  themselves.  They 
consequently  separate  from,  borrow  from,  and  op- 
pose both  the  oxhers,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel. 

The  respective  views  of  these  three  parties  con- 
cerning it,  and  their  claims  to  this  power  both  of 
ordination  and  of  rule,  form  then  the  radical  divis- 
ion of  Christendom,  and  consequently  of  the  forty- 
one  sects  in  the  "  Western  Reserve."  Applying, 
then,  this  classification  to  that  portion  of  Ohio,  we 
have  the  following  results :  — 

In  our  language  the  term  bishop  denotes  "  one  of 
the  head  orders  of  the  clergy ; "  *  and  wherever  we 
discover  this  order,  "  things,"  so  far  as  they  "  are 
equal  to  the  same,  are  equal  to  one  another." 
Among  how  many,  then,  of  the  said  forty-one 
sects    is    this   appellative    found  ?      Wherever  we 

•  Walker. 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     23 

find  men  reposing  all  power  in  any  order  of 
bishops,  who  are  elevated  above  or  over  others, 
"who,  labor  in  word  and  doctrine,"  this  bone, 
common  only  to  one  species,  and  yet  universal 
among  that  species,  warrants  us  to  determine  the 
unity  of  origin,  nature,  influence,  and  tendency 
which  belong  to  every  individual  of  that  species. 
Hence  we  find  the  terms  episcopal  and  bishop  ap- 
plicable to  three  and  a  half  of  these  forty-one  sects. 

These,  according  to  their  affinities,  are  Popery, 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal,  to  which  we  must  add  the  power  of  or- 
dination among  the  Moravians,  leaving  thirty-seven 
and  a  half  sects  for  the  other  two  divisions. 

Of  these  the  Presbyterians  number  eight  and  a 
half,  and  I  suppose  that  they  are  all  found  in  "  the 
Reserve,"  namely :  Old  School,  Constitutional,  Re- 
formed Dutch,  Cumberland,  German  Reformed, 
Reformed,  Associate,  Associate  Reformed,  and  the 
Moravians  in  ecclesiastical  rule,  leaving  in  the  said 
aggregate  twenty-nine  sects  of  Congregationalists, 
who  have  neither  bishop  nor  presbytery. 

Under  Episcopacy  we  have,  then,  the  prelatic 
"  Mother,"  the  Papal  Church,  a  vast  mass  of 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  her  people,  and  of  luxury  * 

*  "  His  holiness  the  pope  has  about  three  millions  of  dollars  annually. 
Surely  Pius  ought  to  live  on  so  liberal  a  salary  as  above  eight  thousand 
dollars  a  day.  Why  could  he  not  help  some  of  the  tens  of  thousands 
of  blind  and  broken-legged  beggars  that  swarm  in  and  about  Rome, 
Naples,  and  other  of  the  most  sanctified  and  holy  of  the  Catholic 
cities  ?  "  —  Pitts   Preacher,  Aug.  17,  1853. 


24  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

and  absolute  dominion  on  the  part  of  her  priest- 
hood, which  has  grown  for  twelve  hundred  years,  in 
defiance  of  both  reason  and  revelation,  as  a  gan- 
grene on  the  church  of  Christ.  Her  "  simple 
faithful "  talk  of  her  head  as  the  prime  minister  of 
freedom  and  the  guardian  angel  of  human  liberty, 
while  there  is  neither  freedom  of  speech,  a  free 
press,  liberty  to  worship  God,  nor  a  free  Bible  in  all 
his  civil  kingdom. 

In  the  United  States,  by  birth,  proselytism,  and 
emigration,  Papists  are  fast  increasing,  and  number, 
according  to  their  own  statistics,  above  two  millions. 

We  have  then  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church, 
embracing  at  this  date  (1854)  thirty-five  bishops, 
fifteen  hundred  churches,  seventeen  hundred  clergy, 
one  hundred  and  five  thousand  communicants,  and 
one  million  adherents.  While  these  rejoice  in  their 
unity,  they  are  increasingly  leavened  with  Pusey- 
ism.  They  have  all  the  same  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  have  a  sample  of  human  hymns,  recom- 
mended by  their  bishops,  and  where  poverty  does 
not  prevent,  they,  in  common  with  all  Papists,  "re- 
joice at  the  sound  of  the  organ,"  as  an  ingredient 
in  their  worship.  They  obtain  *  lineage  from  the 
church  of  King  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  that  un- 
grateful son  of  "the  man  of  sin,"  who  not  only 
protested  against  his  authority,  and  set  up  an  altar 
for   himself  in  opposition  to  "  Holy  Mother,"  but 

*  Se«  Appendix,  C. 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     25 

wrested  from  her  hand  a  moiety  of  the  cord  of 
"  apostolic  succession  "  which  she  had  previously- 
conveyed  to  Archbishop  Cranmer.  Of  his  perpet- 
uated ritual,  as  perfected  by  King  Edward  VI.,  a 
British  statesman  once  said,  "  We  have  a  Calvinistic 
creed,  a  Popish  liturgy,  and  Arminian  clergy." 

While  Methodism  in  Britain  received  its  "  fash- 
ion and  mould  "  at  the  hand  of  its  author,  the  Rev. 
John  Wesley,  who  delegated  his  power,  both  of  or- 
dination and  of  rule,  to  his  hundred,  or  to  his  con- 
ference, over  which  "  he,  being  dead,  yet"  reigneth, 
he  was  pleased  to  have  his  American  progeny  as- 
similated by  the  name,  office,  reality,  and  diocese  of 
a  bishop,  to  the  above  prelatic  church.  At  the 
same  time  he  sagaciously  introduced  some  ingre- 
dients of  Congregationalism  into  this  part  of  his 
fabric,  such  as  allowing  the  people  all  to  speak  in 
their  minor  religious  meetings.  This  has  a  power- 
ful effect  in  giving  to  this  sect  imaginary  ideas  of 
vast  religious  liberty,  while,  in  the  language  of 
Judge  Nelson  in  their  church  case,  "  its  lay  mem- 
bers have  no  part  nor  connection  with  its  govern- 
mental organization,  and  never  had."  Having  con- 
sequently much  that  is  absolute  in  its  very  nature, 
not  a  few  have  burst  its  bands,  and  running  into 
the  opposite  extreme,  turned  Radical  or  Congrega- 
tional Methodists;  while  the  idea  of  infusing  even 
a  small  amount  of  lay  representation,  or  Presbyteri- 
anism,  into  its  character,  now  agitates  no  inconsider- 
able part  of  the  denomination.  Having  various 
3 


26 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


doctrines  and  practices  congenial  to  human  nature,* 
and  allowing  a  few  to  think  for  the  many,  it  nu- 
merically outstrips  its  competitors,  and  enrolls  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  south  (in  1853) 
1,659  travelling  preachers,  4,036  local  preachers,  and 
529,394  members,  making  a  total  of  535,089  ;  while 
the  same  church  north  enrolls  5,100  travelling  preach- 
ers, 6,061  local  preachers,  and  732,637  members, 
under  seven  bishops,  making  a  total,  in  all,  of 
1,278,887  laity. 

The  Moravians,  whose  "  ecclesiastical  church  of- 
ficers, generally  speaking,  are  the  bishops,  who 
alone  are  authorized  to  ordain  ministers,  but  pos- 
sess no  authority  in  the  government  of  the  church, 
except  such  as  they  derive  from  some  other  office,"  f 
number  not  above  thirty  churches  in  the  United 
States.  So  much,  then,  for  the  prelatic  division  of 
our  American  churches. 

As  to  the  Presbyterian,  in  its  eight  and  a  half 
ramifications,  the  most  influential  is  known  by  the 
name  of  "  the  Old  School."  Its  members  are  found 
from  Newburyport  to  San  Francisco,  and  its  numbers 
are  fast  increasing.  They  conform,  as  we  may  sub- 
sequently see,  in  some  things,  not  a  little  to  Congre- 
gationalism, and  are  in  numbers  (in  1853)  about 
2,139  ministers,  2,879  churches,  and  219,263  mem- 
bers. 

The  Constitutional  Presbyterian  church  was  pro- 

*  See  Appendix,  A.  t  Hayward. 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     27 

duced  by  an  unscriptural  compact  of  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  General  Association  of  Connec- 
ticut in  1801,  in  what  was  called  "the  plan  of 
union  between  Presbyterians  and  Congregational 
ists  in  the  new  settlements,"  and  in  thirty-seven 
years  "  the  plan "  came  to  maturity  by  the  forma- 
tion (in  1838)  of  a  General  Assembly  under  the 
above  chosen  appellation. 

Being  one  half  Congregational  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  holding  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith  "  only  for  substance,"  on  such 
subjects  as  original  sin,  election,  and  efficacious 
grace,  their  trumpets  do  not  always  give  the  "  cer- 
tain sound "  adopted  by  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly. They  number  (in  1853)  1,570  ministers,  1,626 
churches,  and  140,452  members. 

We  have  then  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians, 
originating  from  the  irregular  conduct  of  a  presby- 
tery of  that  name,  which,  in  1803,  introduced  some 
fatal  doctrinal  errors ;  and  appealing  from  the  decis- 
ions of  the  synod  of  Kentucky,  to  which  it  had 
been  subordinate,  its  doings  were  condemned  in 
1810,  when  it  proclaimed  itself  an  independent 
church.  Not  only  holding  some  tenets  very  grati- 
fying to  natural  men,  but  also  employing  in  its 
ministry  men  of  a  less  intimate  acquaintance  with 
science,  the  languages,  and  theology  than  other 
portions  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  it  has  grown 
rapidly,  embracing  about  900  ministers,  1,250 
churches,  and  near  100  000  members. 


28  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Under  the  name  Presbyterian  we  find  also  the 
German  Reformed,  which  was  organized  in  1741, 
in*  Pennsylvania,  was  subordinate  to  the  Dutch 
church  in  Europe  until  1792,  and  in  1819  adopted 
an  independent  constitution,  with  a  synod  and 
presbyteries.  It  has  some  affinities  with  the  Con- 
stitutional Presbyterian  church ;  is  deeply  Arminian 
in  doctrine ;  borrows  some  usages,  such  as  kneel- 
ing at  the  Lord's  table,  from  Episcopalians ;  and 
numbers  about  300  ministers  and  probably  above 
100,000  communicants.  "  The  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism is  the  creed  of  the  German  Reformed."  * 

The  Reformed  Dutch  church  was  the  first  standard 
bearer  of  Presbyterianism  in  America.  Until  1764, 
however,  their  worship  was  conducted  in  the  Dutch 
language.  They  differ  but  little  from  the  Old 
School,  and  number  about  (in  1853)  324  churches. 

The  Moravians,  as  we  have  seen,  are  Episcopal 
in  ordination,  but  Presbyterian  in  government,  hav- 
ing their  churches  under  ministers  and  ruling 
elders. 

The  other  kinds  of  Presbyterians  differ  from 
those  five  and  a  half  by  a  professed  adherence  to 
the  book  of  Psalms  as  the  matter  of  their  praise, 
by  a  closer  conformity  in  some  points  of  doctrine 
than  some  of  them  to  the  Westminster  standards, 
while  one  of  these,  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
church,  claims  lineage  from  the  second  reformation 

*  Lutheran  Obseryer. 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     29 

in  Scotland,  and  professes  *  to  bind  its  adherents  to 
the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland,  and  to  the 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant  of  the  three  king- 
doms. It  has,  since  1833,  existed  in  two  divisions, 
one  (the  pro  re  nata)  in  1853  numbering  54, 
and  the  other  having  44  ministers. 

The  Associate  church  dates  from  the  expulsion 
of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  by  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  in  1733,  and  ori- 
ginated at  Gairney  Bridge,  in  December  of  that 
year,  by  the  union  of  a  few  faithful  men.  Min- 
isters 168,  congregations  250,  and  about  18,157 
members. 

The  Associate  Reformed  church  was  organized  at 
Philadelphia,  October  31,  1782,  by  the  union  of  the 
Reformed  and  of  all  the  Associate  ministers  in  the 
country,  save  two,  and  is  consequently  American  in 
its  origin;  while  in  its  details  of. doctrine,  govern- 
ment, worship,  and  discipline,  it  assimilates  more 
closely  to  the  three  leading  divisions  of  the  Scottish 
churches,  namely,  to  the  Kirk,  the  Free  church, 
and  to  the  United  Presbyterian  church,  and  to  the 
Presbyterian  church  of  Ireland,  than  does  any  other 
branch  of  the  Presbyterian  division  in  the  United 

*  Probably  few  of  them  take  a  literal  view  of  the  third  section  of 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  in  relation  to  "  his  majesty's  just 
power  and  greatness."  Hence,  at  Dervock,  in  Ireland,  October  12, 18-53, 
"  Dr.  S.  read  the  act  of  covenanting,  as  contained  in  a  bond  irabody- 
ing  the  substance  of  the  covenants,  National  and  Solemn  League, 
adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  church  and  the  time,  which  was 
duly  sworn."    The  term  "  substance  "  is  at  times  a  convenient  one. 

3* 


30  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

States.  They  number  in  all  about  293  ministers, 
about  400  congregations,  and  33,639  members. 

We  now  enter  the  third  portion  of  the  field,  and 
notice  those  who  separate  from,  borrow  from,  and 
oppose  both  Prelatists  and  Presbyterians. 

While  they  deny  that  Christ  has  given  to  his  min- 
isters, or  to  ministers  and  ruling  elders,  the  exclusive 
power  of  either  ordination  or  judicial  rule,  they 
maintain  that "  all  church  power  resides  in  the  church, 
and  not  in  church  officers,  and  resides  in  each 
particular  church  directly  and  originally,  by  virtue 
of  the  express  or  implied  compact  of  its  members."  * 

This  source  of  rule,  or  form  of  ecclesiastical 
power,  we  will  find  entering  in  preponderating  pro- 
portions into  the  remaining  twenty-nine  denomina- 
tions in  the  "  Western  Reserve,"  and  forming  the 
framework  of  all  sects  which  believe  not  in  either 
diocese  or  presbytery. 

Of  the  twenty-nine,  the  first  are  the  Orthodox. 
"  Orthodoxy "  (says  Hayward)  "  literally  signifies 
correct  opinions.  The  word  is  generally  used  to 
denote  those  who  are  attached  to  the  Trinitarian 
scheme  of  doctrine." 

This  distinctive  use  of  the  term  originated  in 
New  England,  and  "  these  Congregational  churches 
are  more  particularly  denominated  Orthodox  than 
any  other  churches  in  the  United  States,  and  ad- 
here,"   says    he,    "  to   the    doctrines  of   Calvin   or 

*  Boston  Congregational  Almanac,  1847,  p.  43. 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     31 

Hopkins."*  They  number  about  1717  ministers 
and  2,152  churches,  of  which  about  two  thirds  are 
in  the  six  Eastern  States. 

Here  again  we  have  the  Baptists,  so  self-styled, 
as  if  they  alone  dispensed  the  ordinance  of  baptism 
in  accordance  with  the  mind  of  Heaven ;  and  as  if 
beside  them  none  else  in  Christendom  were  free 
from  unscriptural  practice  and  will  worship,  in 
applying  water  to  the  body,  or  "  baptizing  tuith 
water,"  instead  of  applying  the  body  to,  or  under, 
the  water  by  immersion. 

Under  the  term  Baptist,  the  sects  are  beyond 
comparison  numerous,  such  as  the  Regular,  Seventh 
Day,  Freewill,  Christian,  Campbellite,  and  many 
others,  who  all  agree  in  the  source  of  ecclesiastical 
power,  and  in  their  peculiar  rite  of  immersion. 

If  it  were  lawful  to  call  objects  by  their  appro- 
priate names,  they  might,  as  a  whole,  be  denomi- 
nated the  Immersing  Congregationalists.  The  only 
difference  between  those  styled  "  Regular  Baptists  " 
and  the  "  Orthodox "  does  not  consist  in  govern- 
ment and  discipline,  but  in  doctrine  and  worship, 
so  far  as  these  relate  to  the  mode  and  to  half  the 
subjects  of  baptism,  together  with  the  corollary 
which  they  draw  from  it,  close  communion,  which, 
although  scriptural  in  itself,  here  rests  upon  an  un- 
scriptural foundation. 


*  Marvellous   identity  !     See  Ely's    Contrast,  passim,   especially 
p.  35. 


32  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

If  the  Regular  Baptists  alone  are  reckoned,  they 
are  exceeded  in  number  by  the  Methodists;  but  if 
all  who  immerse  are  united,  they  form  the  most  nu- 
merous denomination  in  the  United  States.  Some 
of  the  causes  of  their  numerical  prosperity  will 
meet  us  in  the  sequel,  and  of  these  a  summary 
may  be  found  in  Appendix,  B.  The  Regular  have 
about  12,436  preachers  and  1,208,765  members. 

While  this  division  of  sects  is  too  numerous  to 
be'  surveyed  in  every  particular,  I  would  next  name 
the  Methodist  Protestant  church.  They  reject  the 
authority  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  their  "  founder," 
who  claimed  the  right  to  ordain  every  thing,  and  to 
control  every  preacher  and  member  of  his  societies 
in  all  matters  of  a  prudential  character,  or,  as  he 
himself  states,  "that  he  had  the  exclusive  power" 
(he  does  not  say  whether  by  immediate  revelation, 
whether  borrowed  or  assumed)  "  to  appoint  when, 
and  where,  and  how  his  societies  should  meet," 
and  "to  appoint  when,  where,  and  how  each 
preacher  should  labor."  From  such  unscriptural 
and  arbitrary  assumptions,  the  Protestant  Methodist 
church  burst  out  and  ran  into  the  opposite  ex- 
treme of  Congregationalism,  in  their  turn  assum- 
ing that  "  whatever  power  may  be  necessary  to  the 
formation  of  rules  and  regulations  is  inherent  in  the 
minislers  and  members  of  the  church." 

WThile  Lutheranism  in  Europe  is  prelatical,  yet, 
according  to  the  American  editor  of  Buck's  Dic- 
tionary,  "  the    government    of    the     Evangelical 


GOVERNMENT DIVISION    INTO    THREE    PARTS.     33 

Lutheran  church  in  the  United  States,  in  its  essen- 
tial features,  is  Congregational  or  Independent." 
It  employs  nearly  1,000  ministers,  and  has  about 
200,000  communicants* 

It  is  unnecessary  at  present  to  survey  the  various 
other  sects  of  Congregationalists,  such  as  the 
Quakers,  Perfectionists,  Fighting  Quakers,  Univer- 
sal! sts,  Unitarians,  Swedenborgians,  Transcenden- 
talists,  &c.  &c,  as  the  mere  inspection  of  their 
source  of  power  in  ordination  and  manner  of  rule 
in  their  societies  will  indicate  that  they  at  all  times 
eschew  both  a  bishop  and  a  presbytery. 

Thus  I  classify,  as  above,  these  forty-one  sects  in 
the  "  Western  Reserve ; "  and  on  this  adopted  prin- 
ciple of  classification  I  can  refer  to  one  of  these 
three  germs  of  sectarianism,  or  to  their  compounds, 
any  sects  who  profess  to  believe  the  Bible  in 
Christendom. 


*  "  The  itugsburg  Confession  comprehends  the  creed  of  the  Luther- 
ans." —  Lutheran  Observer. 


CHAPTER    II. 

EACH  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  HAS  ITS  SPECIFIC  VIEW 
OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Having  now  defined  my  position,  which  is,  that 
the  particular  view  of  church  government  which 
any  man  adopts  regulates  his  faith,  and  gives 
strong  and  usually  certain-  direction  to  his  practice 
in  all  other  religious,  and  even  moral  matters,  I 
now  proceed  to  its  proof. 

In  doing  this  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  how  any 
chosen  form  of  church  government  influences  and 
moulds  a  man's  faith  and  practice  in  reference, 
first  to  the  Bible,  as  to  his  belief  in  its  absolutely 
equal  inspiration  and  authority,  and  his  interpre- 
tation of  it. 

Sacred  as  the  Bible  is,  or  is  considered  to  be  by 
all  who  wear  the  Christian  name,  yet  no  two  of  the 
above-named  three  divisions  have,  in  relation  to  its 
absolute  authority  and  inspiration  as  the  rule  of 
life,  the  same  opinions. 

With  the  true  Presbyterian  it  is  a  perfect  whole, 
all  alike  equally  inspired,  and  all  profitable  for  doc- 
trine, for  perfecting  the  man  of  God,  and  for 
thoroughly  furnishing  him  unto  all  good  works. 

(34) 


SECTARIAN    VIEWS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  35 

"While  a  large  part  of  it  was  delivered-  to  the 
Jews,  and  of  this  not  a  small  portion  referred  to 
those  ceremonial  observances  which  could  never 
take  away  sin,  as  pertaining  to  the  conscience,  still 
it  is,  in  their  belief,  all  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
and  all  profitable  to  men  preaching  Christ  and 
the  necessity  of  holiness,  by  all  those  types  and 
shadows  which,  dark  as  they  \\ere,  and  but  "  weak 
and  beggarly  elements  "  at  best,  were  all,  in  every 
iota,  established  by  the  authority  of  Jehovah. 

By  a  survey  of  the  varied  evidences  which  estab- 
lish the  inspiration  of  the  sacred  volume,  Presby- 
terians maintain,  not  only  that  "  all  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  but  also,  that  by  fair 
deduction,  all  traditions  of  men  of  every  age,  and 
all  apocryphal  writings,  which  would  claim  authority 
from  their  antiquity,  or  from  their  supposed  in- 
structive value  on  the  one  hand,  as  well  as  all  new 
or  pretended  revelations  since  the  close  of  the 
canon  by  the  apostle  John,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
all  alike  without  divine  authority,  and  are  as  "  the 
chaff  to  the  wheat,"  totally  valueless  as  the  bread 
of  life  to  the  soul. 

"  The  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  in  their  estimation, 
is  interwoven  into  and  forms  both  the  warp  and 
woof  of  every  page  of  this  mysterious  volume,  and 
is  just  as  certainly,  though  not  so  clearly,  found  in 
"  the  shadow  of  good  things  to  come,"  in  the  Leviti- 
cal  law,  and  in  the  historical  records  of  the  patri- 
archal ages,  as  in  the  narratives  of  the  evangelists, 
or  the  epistles  of  the  apostles. 


36  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Consequently,  if  all  other  history  and  tradition 
run  in  the  same  channel,  and  appear  to  confirm  the 
truths  of  inspiration,  they  give  no  additional  force 
nor  authority  to  the  word  of  God,  which  "  is  per- 
fect ; "  while  their  opposition  to  the  absolute  suffi- 
ciency of  divine  revelation,  when  arrayed  against 
it,  is  not  so  relatively  powerful  as  the  breath  of  a  fly 
against  a  tornado.. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  any  pretended 
revelations  by  dreams,  or  supposed  visions,  or  new 
light,  or  even  by  special  faith,  from  Heaven,  or  any 
communications  by  necromancy,  or  "rappings,"  or 
"  tippings,"  from  "  the  spirit  world  "  beneath,  which 
would  either  contradict  the  statements  of  Scripture, 
or  give  apparently  increased  authority  and  clearer 
illustration  to  its  contents,  Presbyterians,  assured 
of  its  perfect  character  as  the  living  word  of  the 
God  of  truth,  view  all  such  opinions  as  fabulous, 
and  as  originating  with  him  who  "  is  transformed 
into  an  angel  of  light."  "  They  have  Moses  and 
the  prophets;  let  them  hear  them." 

Believing  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  are  thus  perfect,  Presbyterians  maintain 
that  Christ,  the  King  and  Head  of  his  church,  has 
given  to  her  perfect  laws,  and  a  specified  form  of 
spiritual  government ;  that  all  those  who  are  "  daily 
added  to  the  church  "  should  "  obey  them  that  have 
the  rule  over  them,  and  submit  themselves,  for 
they  watch  for  their  souls  as  those  who  must  give 
an  account ; "  that  "  the  elders  who  rule  well  should 


SECTARIAN    VIEWS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  37 

be  accounted  worthy  of  double  honor,  especially " 
those  of  them  "  who  labor  in  word  and  doctrine ; " 
that  the  apostle  Peter,  so  far  from  having  been 
appointed  pope,  had  no  preeminence,  and  claimed 
none  above  the  other  ministers  of  Christ,  saying, 
u  The  elders  who  are  among  you,  I  exhort,  who  am 
also  an  elder,"  —  and  that  there  were  in  Ephesus,  in 
a  single  church,  a  plurality  of  bishops,  who  were  the 
elders  of  one  "  flock,  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  made  them  overseers." 

They  also  maintain  that  all  power  to  ordain,  or 
to  invest  with  office,  belongs  to  those  already  in  the 
eldership,  where  churches  are  established,  or  where 
those  invested  with  the  power  previously  in  a  law- 
ful manner,  are  found,  since  such  directions  as  these 
are,  by  the  authority  of  Christ,  recorded:  "Lay 
hands  suddenly  on  no  man ; "  "  That  thou  shouldest 
ordain  elders  in  every  city  ;  "  "  They  ordained  them 
elders  in  every  church  ;  "  "  These  things  commit 
thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach 
others  also ; "  "  Neglect  not  the  gift  that  is  in  thee, 
which  was  given  to  thee  by  prophecy,  with  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery." 

All  who  believe  in  the  scriptural  form,  power,  and 
authority  of  Presbytery,  then,  contend,  that  from 
the  word  of  God  alone,  either  by  express  quotation, 
or  by  legitimate  deduction,  can  be  obtained  "what 
we  are  to  believe  concerning  God,"  or  "  what  duty 
God  requires  of  man."  In  other  words,  the  Bible, 
the  Bible  alone,  forms  their  rule  of  faith  ;  and  from 
4 


38  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

it,  unaided  by  tradition,  by  history,  or  by  new  pre- 
tended revelations,  either  from  above  or  below,  they 
obtain  their  views  of  church  government.  Presby- 
terians, then,  believe  that  "  all  Scripture  is  given  by 
inspiration  of  God,"  and  that  nothing  else  is. 

But  say  you,  "  Do  not  Episcopalians  believe  this 
also  ?  "  We  say,  "  Not  precisely."  Although  our 
common  translation  of  the  Scriptures  was  made  by 
prelatical  authority,  yet  from  it  alone  diocesan  Epis- 
copacy cannot,  in  opposition  to  Presbytery,  be  es- 
tablished ;  and  recourse  is  then  had  to  the  history  of 
the  Christian  church.  Here  they  distrust,  and  leave 
the  iron  of  revealed  truth,  from  and  with  which 
Presbyterians  form  their  order  of  church  govern- 
ment, and  attempt  to  strengthen  it  with  the  miry 
clay  of  human  history.  They  believe  too  much. 
Prelatists,  disregarding  the  scriptural  fact,  that 
Judas  Iscariot  was  the  only  apostle  who  had  any 
successor  in  office,  direct  our  attention  to  "early 
writers,"  and  to  "ancient  writers  on  ecclesiastical 
matters ; "  and  in  order  to  make  out  an  "  apostolical 
succession,"  they  refer  not  to  the  Scriptures  of  truth, 
even  (during  that  period  of  the  history  of  the 
Christian  church  which  elapsed  previously  to  the 
death  of  the  apostle  John,  or)  during  the  age  of  in- 
spiration, but  to  supposed  genealogies.  These  do 
not  always  harmonize  with  each  other,  and  where 
they  are  professedly  contemporary  with  the  New 
Testament  chronology,  they  give  different  teach- 
ings.    By  the  Papal  genealogy,  the  apostle  Peter 


SECTARIAN    VIEWS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  39 

was  promoted  to  the  see  of  Rome,  A.  ~D.  33,  while 
that  of  the  church  of  King  Henry  VIII.  of  Eng- 
land,* places  St.  Simon  and  the  apostle  Paul  to- 
gether, as  equal  sharers  of  the  emoluments  of  St. 
Peter's  patrimony,  from  A.  D.  44  to  A.  D.  66,  and 
leaves  "the  church  "  without  a  spiritual  head  for 
the  previous  eleven  years.  This,  in  part,  gives  a 
truthful  appearance  to  the  arrangement,  for  we 
know  that  St.  Paul  was  in  Rome,  while  it  is,  at 
least,  highly  improbable  that  St.  Peter  ever  saw 
the  seat  of  the  Csesars.  During  those  twenty-two 
years  we  find  Paul  in  many  other  places,  and  know 
that  if  he  were  semi-pope  at  Rome,  he  must  have 
enjoyed  at  least  one  "  plurality,"  and  that,  obviously, 
so  long  as  he  worked  as  a  tent  maker  in  Corinth. 

If,  in  the  mean  time,  or  previously,  St.  Peter  had 
erected  his  cathedral  "  between  the  Janiculine  and 
Vatican  Hills,"  St.  Paul  did  not  "  render  honor  to 
whom  honor  was  due,"  in  not  remembering  him 
among  his  many  salutations  to  residents  at  Rome, 
Paul  also  must  have  been  an  equal  pope  to  "  with- 
stand him  to  the  face,  for  he  was  to  be  blamed," 
or  worthy  of  blame,  while  Simon  was  to  him  so 
affectionate  as  to  call  him  "our  beloved  brother 
Paul,"  not  "  our  beloved  brother "  pope,  or  semi- 
pope,  "  Paul." 

If  plausibility  could  "  prove  all  things,"  the 
"  apostolical  succession  "  might  start  straight  as  an 

*  As  quoted  by  Hayward. 


40  PHILOSOPHY    OP    SECTARIANISM. 

arrow  from  the  bow  of  an  archer ;  but  when,  like  the 
"  Bereans,"  we  "  search  the  Scriptures  to  see  whether 
these  things  are  so,"  we  find  that  where  men  be- 
lieve these  genealogies  of  the  popes,  they  become 
"wise  above  what  is  written."  In  other  words, 
"  they  believe  too  much." 

If,  then,  their  belief  in  relation  to  prelatic  power, 
both  of  ordination  and  of  rule,  is  drawn  in  a  part, 
however  small,  from  something  beyond  the  inspired 
word  of  God,  and  if  by  that  something,  in  connec- 
tion with  revealed  truth,  their  church  government 
can  be  alone  maintained,  we  may  expect  a  similar 
liberty  to  be  taken  with  the  teachings  of  Scripture 
in  relation  to  worship  and  discipline,  if  not  also  in 
doctrine,  when  their  necessities  may,  in  any  case, 
demand  it. 

Hence,  at  whatever  portion  of  the  Episcopal 
churches  we  look,  we  find  the  absolute  authority  of 
divine  revelation,  as  the  rule  of  life,  rejected,  or  at 
least  partially  set  aside,  by  placing  something  else 
on  an  equality  with  it. 

Not  only  do  tradition,  and  "  the  church,"  and 
miracles  among  Papists  produce  the  effect  of  shear- 
ing the  Bible  of  its  absolute  honor,  as  the  living 
and  perfect  word  of  God,  but,  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  parts  of  the 
Apocrypha,  and  the  decrees  of  the  church,  at  times 
share  the  respect  due  alone  to  divine  authority; 
while  all  his  followers  believe  (although  even  his 
name  is  not  found  in  either  the  Old  or  New  Testa- 


SECTARIAN    VIEWS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  41 

ments)  that  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  as  he  himself 
has  written,  had  "  the  exclusive  power  to  appoint 
when,  and  where,  and  how  his  societies  should 
meet,"  and  "  to  appoint  each  preacher,  when,  and 
where,  and  how  to  labor."  Nay,  his  own  spiritual 
offspring  in  England,  in  1852,  complain  of  "the 
virtual  setting  aside,  by  the  Wesleyan  Conference, 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  and  the  substitution  of  human  authorities 
in  their  stead."  What  more  extended  or  minute 
authority  does  Jesus  Christ  claim  over  his  ministry 
and  his  churches,  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  than  is 
assumed  by  "  the  founder  of  Methodism  "  over  his 
societies  and  preachers  ? 

Do  not,  then,  all  who  believe  in  prelatical  authority 
believe  more  than  "  is  waitten  "  in  the  Bible  ?  If 
they  do  not,  give  to  us  chapter  and  verse  for  Pio 
Nono,  the  Czar,  King  Henry  VIII.,  and  the  Rev. 
John  Wesley.  "  Search  the  Scriptures."  "  To  the 
law  and  to  the  testimony :  if  they  speak  not  ac- 
cording to  this  word,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light 
in  them."     John  v.  39.     Isaiah  viii.  20. 

Turning  from  this  extreme,  the  superabundance 
of  faith,  cherished  only  in  connection  wTith  the  idea 
of  a  diocesan,  (or  his  equivalent,  as  established 
in  England  by  the  founder  of  Methodism,)  we  now 
look  at  the  opposite  one,  where,  in  relation  to  the 
word  of  God,  men  believe  too  little. 

With  "tekel"  written  upon  it,  this  species  of 
faith,  coeval  with  Congregationalism  as  a  form  of 
4* 


42  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

church  government,  has  been  exhibited  in  small 
specimens  on  the  continent  of  Europe  in  past 
centuries,  and  it,  in  1851,  numbered  about  three 
thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-four  churches  in 
England  and  Wales ;  but  that  which  has  now  the 
prospective,  if  not  the  prevailing  influence,  and  is 
most  antagonistical  to  Presbytery  and  Prelacy,  is 
found  in  New  England,  and  among  emigrants  from 
this  region.  Here  its  oldest  records  are  said  to 
exist.  The  records  of  the  church  in  Barnstable, 
Massachusetts,  as  organized  in  England  in  1616, 
and  transferred  to  America  in  1620,  are  said  to  be 
preserved.  Notwithstanding  that  a  Congregational 
society  was  formed  in  the  house  of  Nicholas  Fox, 
in  Alden  Lane,  in  London,  in  1592,  yet  no  records 
of  such  societies  prior  to  the  act  of  uniformity,  in 
1662,  can  now  (so  far  as  is  generally  known)  be 
discovered  in  Britain. 

As  the  doctrine  held  in  relation  to  church  govern- 
ment is  the  corner  stone  of  the  entire  superstructure, 
so  both  those  who,  by  escaping  from  prelatic  oppres- 
sion to  Plymouth  Rock,  found  in  this  region  "  free- 
dom to  worship  God,"  and  those  who  followed 
them  in  1630,  with  a  royal  charter,  to  Massachusetts 
Bay,  when,  (in  New  England,)  in  1648,  they  num- 
bered forty-six  churches  among  a  population  of 
less  than  thirty  thousand  souls,  their  ministers  and 
messengers  came  together  to  consider  and  compare 
what  customs  had  arisen  among  them.  On  that 
occasion  their  appeal  was  not  to  "  the  law  of  the 


SECTARIAN    VIEWS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  43 

house,"  written  by  Christ,  the  King  of  the  church, 
in  the  holy  oracles,  nor  to  "  apostolical  succession," 
but  to  "  the  customs  of  the  churches." 

By  an  advocate  of  the  social  compact,*  it  is 
asserted,  "  that  the  germ  of  Congregationalism  is 
found  in  the  New  Testament ;  can  be  believed 
without  supposing  that  this  particular  system  of 
church  polity,  or  any  other,  was  fully  developed  in 
all  its  parts  during  the  lifetime  of  the  apostles,  — 
without  even  supposing  that  this,  or  any  other,  was 
intended  to  be  made  a  distinct  subject  of  divine 
legislation.  Tt  should  be  sufficient  authority  for 
any  ecclesiastical  usage,  if  the  principles  of  the 
gospel,  carried  into  consistent  practice  amid  all  the 
circumstances  which  Providence  has  arranged,  shall 
naturally  and  necessarily  bring  in  that  usage. 
Hence  the  manner  in  which  Congregationalism 
took  its  rise  in  New  England  renders  it  sufficiently 
divine." 

That  synod  at  Cambridge  "  came  together,  not 
to  enact  a  code  of  ecclesiastical  laws,  not  even  to 
construct  an  original  system  of  church  polity,  but 
simply  to  compare  notes  and  usages,  and  commit 
to  writing  that  system  which  had  already  sprung 
into  use  among  them,  and  thus  make  a  declaration 
of  the  church  order,  wherein  the  good  hand  of  God 
had  moulded  them." 


*  The  Boston  Christian  Observatory,  Vol.  I.  No.  8,  August,  1847, 
indorsed  by  the  Year  Book  of  Congregationalism  for  1853. 


44  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

As  the  form  of  "church  order"  may  be  "suffi- 
ciently divine"  without  being  drawn  wholly  from 
the  Bible,  or  by  being  the  result  of  what  may  have 
"  already  sprung  into  use  among  the  churches,"  so, 
where  this  is  believed,  who  can  refuse  to  apply  the 
same,  principle  to  any  other  part  of  the  revealed 
will  of   God? 

Hence  not  only  the  "weak  and  beggarly  ele- 
ments "  of  the  Mosaic  ritual,  so  far  as  they  were 
"  done  away  in  Christ,"  may  (as  they  ought  to)  be 
set  aside,  but  any  portion  of  the  sacred  volume 
may,  in  like  manner,  be  rejected,  where  it  opposes 
any  doctrine,  or  usage,  or  "  system,  which  has 
already  sprung  into  use  among  the  churches." 

Hence  how  prone  are  many,  who  reject  Presbytery 
and  Prelacy,  to  suppose  that  the  whole  Bible  is  not 
alike  equally  inspired ;  that  some  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  if  not  obsolete,  cannot  convey,  at  least 
with  equal  certainty  or  authority  with  the  New 
Testament,  "  the  mind  of  Christ ; "  and  (as  we  shall 
see  in  the  sequel)  that  in  the  very  praises  of  the 
adorable  Jehovah,  the  rhapsodies  of  the  unsancti- 
fied  human  imagination  are,  in  the  estimation  of 
many  who  thus  reason,  preferable  to  "  the  words 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth"!  Consequently 
how  much  unhallowed  comparison  of  different  parts 
of  the  sacred  volume  exists,  as  if  one  part  were  in- 
ferior to  another,  when  "  all  Scripture  is  given  by 
inspiration  of  God"!  how  numerous  the  "divers 
and   strange   doctrines"    among  those  who   thus 


SECTARIAN    VIEWS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  45 

believe  !  how  much  seeking  for  "  new  light " !  how 
much  special  faith  and  wisdom  above  what  is  writ- 
ten !  and  how  common  the  declaration,  that  "  I  will 
not  believe  what  I  cannot  understand"! 

Is  not  the  tendency  of  this  often  ultimately  to 
exalt  reason  above  revelation  as  our  guide  to 
heaven  ?  How  many  portions  of  Scripture  appear, 
on  this  system  of  interpretation,  valueless  or  re- 
dundant ! 

When  men  maintain  that  "  all  church  power  re- 
sides not  in  church  officers,"  there  being  then  no 
rulers  and  no  ruled,  how  can  they  "  let  the  elders 
who  rule  well  be  counted  worthy  of  double  honor, 
especially  they  who  labor  in  word  and  doctrine  "  ? 
How  can  they  obey  the  express  command  of  God, 
"  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and 
submit  yourselves,  for  they  watch  for  your  souls  "  ? 
As  the  whole  alone  is  equal  to  all  its  parts,  so  this 
applies  to  all  who  adopt  this  order  of  church  gov- 
ernment, however  earnestly  they  may  "  contend  for  " 
the  remaining  parts  of  "  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints."      They  all  believe  too  little. 

This  will  be  more  clearly  seen  when  we  come  to 
consider  the  doctrines  and  usages  of  the  Baptists. 
Another  sectarian  germ,  peculiar  to  Congregation- 
alism, is  the  idea  not  only  of  the  possibility,*  but 
also  of  the  probability,  of  new  revelations.     Pres- 


*  See  Rev.  Mr.  Robinson's  address  to  the  Puritans  when  parting 
With  them  at  Delft  Haven. 


46  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

byterians  maintain  that  "  the  law  of  the  Lord  is 
perfect,"  and  that  it  contains  all  that  infinite  Wis- 
dom has  seen  necessary  to  reveal  of  the  divine  will 
for  the  eternal  weal  or  eternal  woe  of  the  whole 
race  of  Adam.  Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  be- 
lieve too  little,  finding  that  extremes  meet,  at  times 
rush  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  even  imagine  that 
the  greatness  of  a  human  event  may  warrant  the 
Almighty  to  give  a  fresh  proportionable  commu- 
nication of  some  "  mystery,  which  has  been  hid  in 
God  since  the  world  began,"  to  a  people,  or  even  to 
one  man.  That  this  idea  is  not  peculiar  to  those 
"  filthy  dreamers,"  the  Mormons,  nor  the  reveries  of 
Emanuel  Swedenborg,  nor  to  the  opinions  of  other 
fanatical  sects  under  this  regimen,  I  appeal  to  an 
unquestionable  oracle  and  exponent  of  Independ- 
ency, the  Rev.  Dr.  Campbell,  who  (in  the  British 
Banner,  as  quoted  if  not  endorsed  by  the  Boston 
Congregationalist  of  September  23, 1853)  thus  dis- 
courses :  "  Hung'  sew  tseuen.  —  It  is  not  impos- 
sible that  the  Most  High  may,  with  respect  to  this 
human  leader,  have  gone  beyond  the  common 
course  of  things,  and  for  a  special  purpose  shown 
him  special  favors.  We  have  difficulty  in  seeing 
any  reason  for  the  rapture  of  Paul,  and  his  heavenly 
vision,  that  would  not,  from  the  nature  of  things, 
be  equally  warranted,  and  more,  by  the  present  ex- 
traordinary circumstances  of  the  Chinese  empire. 
Far  be  it  from  us  to  limit  the  movements  of  Om- 
nipotence ! "  —  2  Pet.  iii.  15,  16.      If  we   are  to 


SECTARIAx\    VIEWS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  47 

have  fresh  revelations  from  heaven,  or  visions  for 
those  "  extraordinary  circumstances  of  empire," 
which  demand  a  Washington,  or  a  Hung  sew  tseuen, 
can  any  thing  short  of  the  millennial  glory  prevent 
the  volumes  which  may  be  written  from  surpass- 
ing, in  their  numbers  and  contents,  the  catalogue 
of  the  British  Museum,  or  even  all  the  libraries 
on  earth?     "  I  trow  not."  —  Is.  viii.  20. 

Thus  we  see  that  no  two  parts  of  the  three 
divisions  of  Christendom,  Presbyterians,  Prelatists, 
or  Congregationalists  understand,  and  interpret  the 
Bible  alike;  and  if  their  differences  in  the  other 
doctrines  do  not  arise  from  the  radical  germ  of 
church  government,  they  are  not  of  earlier  origin 
than  it,  and  by  it  they  are  moulded  and  regulated. 


CHAPTER    III. 

EACH  FORM  HAS  A  SPECIFIC  INFLUENCE  ON  DOCTRINE. 

We  turn  now  to  "the  doctrine  of  God,  our 
Savior,"  and  show  how  our  belief  in  any  chosen 
division  of  church  government  has  upon  it  an  in- 
fluence. 

This  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  most  difficult 
part  of  our  undertaking,  as  many  of  the  leading 
doctrines  of  "  the  way  of  salvation  "  are  held  and 
opposed  under  each  form.  Still,  some  doctrines 
are  peculiar  to  a  specific  form,  or  common  to  two, 
and  opposed  by  the  third.  Thus  the  idea  "  that 
Christ  is  not  truly  a  divine  Being,  but  an  exalted 
and  preeminent  pattern  of  human  perfection,"  can- 
not by  possibility  be  entertained  by  either  Prela- 
tists  or  Presbyterians,*  (although  at  times  found 

*  True,  we  see  in  Ireland  some  Arian  and  Socinian  churches  rec- 
ognized as  Presbyterian,  and  as  such  they  receive  a  share  of  the 
Regium  Dbnum;  but  these  became  such  by  the  neglect  and  abuse  of 
that  "  power  "  which  Christ  has  given  to  each  scripturally  constituted 
presbytery  for  the  purity  and  edification  of  his  people.  By  Presby- 
terians relaxing  discipline,  in  relation  to  doctrinal  errors,  to  the  very 
verge  of  the  social  compact,  Arminianism,  and  then  Arianism,  grew 
apace  with  the  neglect  of  "  sound  doctrine."  So,  when  those  who  had 
denied  the  Presbyterian  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  and  kindred  doctrines, 
were  suspended  from  all  the  functions  of  the  Christian  ministry  by  the 

(48) 


SPECIFIC    INFLUENCE    ON    DOCTRINE.  49 

among  those  who  are  nominally  such,)  as  they  both 
maintain  that  he  has  "  all  power  in  heaven  and 
earth,"  in  consequence  of  "  his  obedience  unto 
death,"  and  that  no  creature  can  wield  this  power; 
in  other  words,  that  Christ  is  "  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh."  This  idea  in  relation  to  our  Savior,  con- 
nected as  it  is  with  the  denial  of  his  atonement,  and 
the  denial  of  the  necessity  of  any  atonement  or 
satisfaction  to  divine  justice  for  the  sins  of  his  peo- 
ple, is  exotic  to  both  these  divisions,  and  can  exist 
only  in  connection  with,  and  spring  from,  the  social 
compact,  under  which  form  men  invariably,  al- 
though not  all  equally,  believe  too  little.* 


proper  church  courts,  they  then  associated,  and  assumed  the  name 
which  they  had  so  disgracefully  dishonored,  while  the  people  whom 
they  had  leavened  with  their  heresy,  privily  brought  in,  said,  "  Be  thou 
over  us  ;  we  make  you  our  rulers."  It  has  been  said,  (i  You  may  drive 
a  coach  and  six  through  almost  any  act  of  parliament,"  and  as  an  ex- 
hibition of  the  keen  discrimination  of  civil  governments  in  relation  to 
doctrinal  errors,  and  of  their  powers  to  distinguish  things  which  differ, 
"  kings  became  nursing  fathers  and  queens  nursing  mothers  "  to  Socini- 
ans,  or  Arians,  in  Ireland,  (under  the  name  of  Presbyterians,)  while 
they  bear  just  as  much  relation  to  true  Presbyterianism  as  the  pus  of 
his  boils  did  to  the  personal  identity  of  the  patient  man  of  Uz. 

*  "  We  encounter  a  fact  as  deplorable  as  it  is  embarrassing.  Many  of 
the  churches  founded  by  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  and  which  stood  forth  for 
a  long  time  (some  of  them  for  a  century  and  a  half)  the  champions  and 
defenders  of  the  Pilgrim  faith,  while  they  still  adhere  to  their  original 
system  of  ecclesiastical  polity ,  have  renounced  that  faith.  Thirteen  out 
of  the  thirty-nine,  whose  pastors  and  delegates  framed  the  Cambridge 
platform,  belong  to  this  class,  to  which  five  more  must  be  added,  if  we 
adopt  the  decision  of  our  civil  courts."  —  Christian  Observatory,  Vol. 
I.  p.  339.  "  Ninety  of  the  Unitarian  churches  in  Massachusetts  were 
originally  Orthodox,  while  at  least  twenty-five  more  obtained  their 
present  meeting  houses  and  parish  funds  by  the  legalized  spoliation  of 

5 


50  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  his  eternal 
personality  and  atonement  are  held,  in  some  cases, 
with  equal  tenacity  by  denominations  devoted  to 
each  form  of  government.  The  scriptural  doctrine 
of  an  atonement  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  limited 
both  in  its  extent  and  application,  is  also  equally  a 
matter  of  controversy  within  each  radical  division. 
Where  his  atonement  for  sin  is  received  as  the 
teaching  of  Scripture,  some  believe  that  he  died  for 
all  of  the  sins  of  all  men,  others  for  some  of  the 
sins  of  all  men,  and  the  third  part  for  all  of  the 
sins  of  some  men.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  first 
of  these — that  of  universal  salvation  —  has  ever  had 
any  ecclesiastical  organization  under  either  Prelacy 
or  Presbyterianism.  For  this,  it  is  indebted  to  the 
other  regimen.  Among  those  who,  under  this 
division,  "believe  too  little,"  are  also  those  who 
deny  the  existence  of  the  devil,  or  of  evil  angels. 
This  is  constantly  affirmed  by  both  those  who  be- 
lieve the  whole  Bible,  and  by  those  who  believe 
too  much. 

Apart  from  these  and  similar  opinions  of  Socin- 

Evangelical  churches,  which,  in  their  organized  capacity,  had  seceded 
from  the  parishes  with  which  they  had  been  connected."  —  Ibid.  p.  340. 
"  It  is  a  fact  suggestive  of  reflection  that  the  first  Episcopal  church  in 
Massachusetts,  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  (organized  in  1686,)  was  the 
first  on  the  continent  to  become  Unitarian."  —  Christian  Observatory, 
Vol.  I.  p.  342.  This,  it  ought  to  be  known,  was  done  by  the  genius  of 
Congregationalism.  The  vestry  wardens  and  congregation  ordained 
Mr.  Freeman  to  the  office  of  Episcopalian  deacon,  priest,  or  bishop,  or 
whatever  order  he  or  his  successors  in  that  incumbency  held,  or  hold, 
and  not  any  Trinitarian  prelate. 


SPECIFIC    INFLUENCE    ON   DOCTRINE.  51 

ians  and  Universalists,  the  strife  between  those  who 
believe  that  Christ  died  as  their  assistant,  or  to  en- 
able all  men  (if  they  will)  to  save  themselves  —  in 
other  words,  that  he  died  to  atone  for  some  of  the 
sins  of  all  men,  to  take  away  birth  sin,  and  place 
them  in  a  salvable  condition  on  the  one  hand,  and 
those  who,  on  the  other  hand,  maintain  that,  as 
their  Savior,  he  laid  down  his  life  for  the  sheep, 
and  that  he  saves  his  people  from  their  sins,  may 
be  found  under  each  radical  form  of  government. 

The  comparatively  modern  appellations  of  Cal- 
vinist  and  Arminian  exist  under  each.  Elec- 
tion, definite  atonement,  total  depravity,  efficacious 
grace,  and  final  perseverance  are  each  and  all 
affirmed  by  some,  and  denied  by  others,  in  each  of 
our  radical  divisions.  The  affirmation  of  these 
doctrines  is,  however,  much  more  frequently  found 
among  Presbyterians.  Calvinist  and  Presbyterian 
are  almost  always  synonymous  with  "  salvation  by 
grace,"  in  our  ecclesiastical  vocabulary. 

Here  our  classification  appears  to  be  most  at  fault; 
yet  from  this  difficulty  arises  the  necessity  for 
articles  of  belief,  or  a  confession  of  faith,  not  to 
supplant  the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
morals,  but  drawn  from  it  as  a  creed,  in  order  to 
show  what  each  individual  or  sect  believes  that  the 
sacred  volume  teaches.*  * 

*  "  The  seceders  from  the  Calvinism  of  the  Reformed  churches 
ought,  as  honest  men,  to  declare  what  they  believe,  and,  if  they  please, 
compose  a  general  confession  for  themselves.    Should  the  teachers  and 


52  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

As  an  ambassador  among  men  receives  his  pre- 
cise instructions  from  his  government,  which  he  is 
bound  truly  to  interpret  and  faithfully  to  obey,  so 
Christ,  in  bringing  life  and  immortality  to  light,  has 
revealed  the  will  of  the  supreme  Ruler  of  heaven 
and  of  earth,  and  he  has  given  to  us  the  precise  in- 
terpretation, not  only  in  his  own  declarations  of  the 
will  of  his  Father  during  his  personal  ministry,  but 
in  ascending  to  glory  he  gave  gifts  to  men,  some 
pastors,  some  teachers,  and  some  ministers,  who 
"  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,"  and  must  interpret 
their  commission  which  they  have  received  from 
Him  who  is  Lord  of  lords,  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  give  to  the  trumpet  "  a  certain  sound."  They 
are  commanded  to  "  buy  the  truth  and  sell  it  not ; " 
to  "  speak  the  truth  in  love ; "  to  "  take  heed  to  the 
doctrine,  for  by  so  doing  they  shall  both  save  them- 
selves and  them  that  hear  them ; "  to  "  contend 
earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints ; " 
to  "  not  shun  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God." 


private  Christians  of  this  persuasion  continue  to  enter  the  Presbyterian 
church,  the  result  must  probably  be,  that  the  confession  of  faith  and 
form  of  government  now  (in  1811)  used  with  the  most  happy  effect, 
must  soon,  like  the  Cambridge,  Boston,  and  Saybrook  platforms,  with- 
out any  repeal,  be  consigned  to  the  garret,  there  to  moulder  until  the 
antiquarian  shall  deem  them  worthy  of  a  place  in  his  library. 

"  The  New  England  churches  formerly  had  a  confession  and  system 
of  ecclesiastical  government ;  but  the  admission  of  multitudes  who 
disregarded  those  standards  to  every  privilege  and  office  has  finally 
produced  this  effect,  that  few  churches  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
their  platforms  of  government,  and  very  few  have  any  government  at 
all."  —  Ely's  Contrast,  p.  279. 


SPECIFIC    INFLUENCE    ON   DOCTRINE.  53 

"  Thou  shalt  hear  the  word  at  my  mouth,  and  warn 
them  from  me,"  is  their  imperative  official  com- 
mission. 

As  two  cannot  walk  together  except  they  be 
agreed,  and  as  men  cannot  possibly  quarrel  where 
they  think  alike,  so  a  confession  of  our  faith,  a 
written  and  precise  statement  of  our  belief  is  ne- 
cessary, in  order  to  know  what  each  individual  or 
sect  does  believe  concerning  God,  and  his  will  in 
relation  to  their  present  existence  and  future 
destiny.  The  compilation  and  use  of  such  confes- 
sions have  been  on  various  pretexts  opposed ;  yet 
this  opposition  indicates  clearly  the  creed  of  those 
who  raise  it,  as  every  rational  being  has  his  belief, 
whether  formed  intelligently  or  in  ignorance, 
whether  written  or  unwritten. 

The  use,  then,  of  a  confession  of  faith  to  discover 
wherein  we  agree,  and  wherein  we  must  exercise 
forbearance  and  charity  in  those  doctrines  in  which 
we  disagree,  not  only  subserves  the  promotion  of 
peace  and  good  will  on  the  earth,  but  is  in  strict  ac- 
cordance with  apostolic  usage,  in  which  reference 
is  made  to  "the  doctrine  of  God  our  Savior," 
"  that  form  of  doctrine  which  is  according  to  god- 
liness," "  the  faith,"  and  "  the  form  of  sound 
words." 

Consequently,  the  more  universally  that  a  con- 
fession of  faith,  or  summary  of  doctrine,  embracing 
all  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  and  drawn  exclu- 
sively from  the  Bible,  is  received,  the  more  extended 


54  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

is  the  unity  of  the  church,  and  the  more  powerful 
under  the  Captain  of  her  salvation  she  becomes. 
The  great  object  of  desire  here  is,  that  all  men 
should  "  see  eye  to  eye,"  believe  the  same  doctrine, 
or  think  alike,  "  upon  the  walls  of  Zion." 

In  the  Anglican  church,  holding  in  unhallowed 
embrace  the  state,  we  see  not  only  a  vast  pro- 
portion of  "  Arminian  clergy,"  but  also  many  of 
Romanizing  tendencies.  Still  within  her  pale  are 
found  thousands  of  the  faithful  servants  of  Christ, 
who  "  take  heed  to  the  doctrine,"  and  preach  salva- 
tion by  grace,  from  one  uniform  "  Calvinistic  creed." 

In  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, since  the  adoption  of,  the  Westminster  stan- 
dards, (with  the  exception  of  occasionally,  through 
the  unfaithfulness  of  presbyteries,  some  Arminian 
doctrine,  which  is  always  the  first  step  in  departure 
from  "  the  faith  of  the  gospel,"  and  which,  when 
unchecked,  has  grown  into  Pelagianism  and  Socini- 
anism,)  a  great  degree  of  uniformity  in  doctrine, 
government,  worship,  and  discipline  has  prevailed. 
Divisions  have  existed,  and  exist,  not  so  much  about 
doctrine  concerning  the  way  of  life,  as  about  "  the 
outward  things  of  the  house  of  God,"  and  the 
manner  of  supporting  the  gospel,  such  as  patron- 
age, glebes,  and  tiends,  (by  which  one  of  these 
churches  is  under  the  unscriptural  control  of  the 
state,)  sustentation  funds,  voluntaryism,  and  the  R,e- 
gium  Donum.  These  conflicting  opinions  and  prac- 
tices arise  about  the  shape  and  texture  of  the  shell; 


SPECIFIC    INFLUENCE    ON    DOCTRINE.  55 

the  kernel,  the  summary  of  doctrine,  with  them  all 
is  alike. 

In  America  the  Presbyterian  church  has  a  general 
uniformity  in  government  and  discipline,  while  her 
different  sections  separate  on  doctrine  and  worship. 
The  Old  School,  the  Associate,  the  Associate  Re- 
formed, and  one  division  of  the  Reformed  church, 
hold  the  Westminster  standards  in  doctrine,  ex- 
cepting in  what  relates  to  magistracy.  The  other 
part  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterians  maintain,  that 
"  the  civil  ruler  must  personally  profess  and  ex- 
emplify the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  officially 
give  his  strength  and  power  to  him."  * 

The  "  Constitutional "  hold  the  same  doctrine 
with  the  Old  School  in  some  parts,  in  others  only 
"  for  substance,"  while  other  doctrines  they  reject. 
The  German  Reformed  f  and  Cumberland  are  al- 
most wholly  Arminian,  and  consequently  give  a 
direct  negation  to  the  most  essential  doctrines  of 
the  Westminster  standards.  Taken  as  a  whole, 
however,  their  government  is  extensively  one. 

Since  1648,  "  the  Cambridge  platform  has  been 
regarded  as  the  ground  plan  of  New  England  Con- 
gregationalism." Eschewing  sessions,  presbyteries 
and    synods,   they  have,   as   public   opinion   may 

*  Summary  of  Principles,  Chap.  13,  Sec.  9.  Paisley,  1821. 

f  From  these  the  Rev.  Dr.  Berg  has  lately  withdrawn,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Romanizing  opinions  and  tendencies  of  Professor  Nevin 
and  other  of  their  preachers.  Possibly  the  whole  denomination  have 
not  yet  landed  at  Puteoli,  but  some  appear  to  be  at  least  "  as  far  as 
Appii  Forum,"  if  not  at  the  "Three  Taverns  toward  Rome." 


56  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

dictate,  their  whole  church,  and  examining  com- 
mittees in  each  society,  their  councils,  associations, 
consociations,  and  conventions.  Some  of  these 
have  a  standing  existence  for  advice,  thus  borrow- 
ing, in  so  far,  the  shadow  of  Presbytery,  while  they 
reject  its  "  image  and  superscription." 

As  under  the  social  compact,  they  deny  the  va- 
lidity of  synodical  authority,  and  are  destitute  of 
courts  of  review  and  appeal;  so  every  society  may 
do  what  is  right  in  its  own  eyes.  True,  by  so  act- 
ing, they  may  lose  fellowship,  but  what  of  that? 
Each  segregation  is,  in  its  own  opinion,  a  perfect 
church;  and  whatever  be  their  creeds — whether  be- 
lievers in  the  Trinity  or  not;  whether  believing,  with 
the  Rev.  Professor  Park,  "that  original  sin  is 
not  sin,"  *  or  with  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  "  that 
mankind  sinned  before  they  were  mankind ; "  f 
whether  Destructionists  or  Restorationists ;  whether 
they  belong  to  "the  exercise,"  "the  taste,"  or  "the 
new  schemes;  "  to  "the  old"  or  to  "the  new  schools" 
—  they  are  all  alike  ready  to  maintain,  "  The  temple 
of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of 
the  Lord  are  these,"  and  to  inform  the  world  of 
"  the  inappreciable  worth  of  Congregationalism."  $ 

*  Dana's  Remonstrance,  p.  8. 

f  ".If  preftxistence  is  a  dream,  Christianity  is  a  farce.  If  this  be 
not  the  substance  of  the  book,  our  reading  of  it  has  been  in  vain.  We 
regret  the  injury  which  must  go  out  from  this  book,  in  the  form  of  Dr. 
Beecher's  testimony  against  Christianity,  as  it  exists  in  other  men's 
minds."  —  Eds.  Pur.  Ilec,  Nov.  17,  1853. 
r    %  Congregationalist,  January  30,  1852. 


SPECIFIC    INFLUENCE    ON*  DOCTRINE.  57 

In  the  mean  time  even  the  very  "  Orthodox  "  have 
wandered  so  far  from  their  "  ground  plan,"  that  the 
question,  "  What  is  New  England  theology?  "  after 
years  of  inquiry  and  discussion,  has  received  by  the 
labors  of  learned  doctors,  editors,  and  professors, 
(as  may  be  seen  in  the  Puritan  Recorder  and  Con- 
gregationalist  for  1852,  and  subsequently,)  as  yet, 
no  satisfactory  solution. 

In  one  thing,  however,  they  approximate  una- 
nimity of  opinion,  which  is,  that  notwithstanding  its 
chameleon  colorings,  "  New  England  theology " 
was  all  contained  in,  and  fell  from,  the  mantle 
of  the  immortal  Edwards,  who,  in  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Erskine  of  Edinburgh,  in  1750,  in  this  language, 
lamented  the  bitter  root  from  which  such  a  diversity 
of  error  has  sprung,  and  may  continue  to  spring,  from 
the  want  of  scriptural  government  and  discipline; 
"  I  have  long  been  perfectly  out  of  conceit  of  our 
unsettled,  independent,  and  confused  way  of  church 
government  in  this  land,  and  the  Presbyterian  has 
ever  appeared  to  me  as  most  agreeable  to  the  word 
of  God,  and  the  nature  and  reason  of  things." 
The  root  being  thus  discovered,  we  see  that  it  is 
not  only  an  opposite  erroneous  extreme  from  the 
decretal  of  a  prelate,  but  in  its  very  essence,  as  en- 
gendered by  a  popular  vote,  "  Go  to,  let  us,"  "  Let  us 
make,"  and  "  We  will  neither  eat  nor  drink  until  we 
have,"  it  is  hostile  to  any  and  all  "  decrees  ordained 
of  the  apostles  and  elders,"  and  consequently  it  dis- 
cards the  injunction,  "  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule 


58  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

over  you,  and  submit  yourselves,  for  they  must  give 
an  account  for  your  souls." 

For  purity  of  doctrine,  then,  under  any  of  these 
three  radical  divisions  of  Christendom,  there  can 
be  no  absolute  security.  Men  will  "wrest  the 
Scriptures,"  "  the  enemy  will  sow  tares,"  and  the 
depraved  nature  of  man  will  ever  cherish  error. 
Still,  the  scriptural  order  of  Presbytery  is  that  by 
which  Christ,  the  King  and  Prophet  of  the  church, 
is  most  honored,  in  the  "  rejecting  of  heretics  after 
due  admonition,  and  in  stopping  the  mouths  of  un- 
ruly and  vain  talkers  and  deceivers,  who  teach 
things  which  they  ought  not,  for  filthy  lucre's  sake." 
Hence  "  doctrine,"  "  sound  doctrine  "  is  the  "  shib- 
boleth "  of  this  division,  as  "  the  church,"  "  our 
church,"  is  of  Prelacy,  and  "  the  man,"  "  the  beau- 
tiful man,"  "  the  smart  man.,"  "  he  draws  large 
houses,"  "  I  admire  to  hear  him  speak,"  is  that  of 
modern  Congregationalism. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

EACH  HAS  A  DISTINCT  INFLUENCE  ON  WORSHIP.  — 
PRAYER  AND  PREACHING. 

In  the  gospel  God  has  revealed  himself  as  the 
true  object  of  religious  adoration,  and  has  prescribed 
what  worship  he  will  accept  from  men.  "  God  is 
a  Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  do  so  in 
spirit  and  in  truth."  At  the  same  time,  "  as  a  man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he,"  and  especially  so,' 
as  a  worshipper,  when  favored  with  the  Bible. 

His  opinion  moulds  his  maimer  of  approach  to 
Jehovah.  Where  he  then  believes  that,  by  the 
Scriptures  alone,  a  man  can  become  perfect  in  the 
divine  life,  and  that  no  worship,  excepting  what  they 
prescribe  and  sanction,  is  accepted  in  heaven,  so  he 
is  careful  to  worship  in  the  appointed  manner,  re- 
membering that  it  is  not  what  the  judgment  of 
erring  mortals  may  suppose  to  be  acceptable  with 
God,  but  what  he  has  expressly  required  at  their 
hand,  that  he  will  receive  and  accept. 

In  our  worship,  prayer  forms  a  prominent  part. 
It  is  the  language  of  want  or  dependence,  and  is 
varied  by  human  condition.  While,  in  all  cases,  to 
be  acceptable,  it  must  be  "  the  offering  up  of  the 

(59) 


60  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

desires  of  the  heart  unto  God,  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  for  things  agreeable  to  his  will,"  Presbyte- 
rians believe  that  as  no  manual,  save  the  brief  ex- 
emplar of  the  Lord's  prayer,  is  given  in  Scripture, 
so,  in  this  part  of  worship,  we  are  not*  confined  to 
a  set  form,  although  to  those  who  are  babes  in 
spiritual  knowledge,  such  aid  may  prove  an  imme* 
diate  advantage.  In  the  use  of  forms,  there  is,  in 
their  belief,  much  danger  of  neglecting  self-improve- 
ment, in  those  gifts  which  promote  godly  edifying. 

As  to  the  matter  and  the  occasion,  they  believe 
that  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
will  speak,  and  that  the  Spirit  maketh  intercession 
for  believers  in  their  hearts.  As  to  the  manner, 
"they  maintain  that  in  secret,  and  privately  in  fami- 
lies, it  is  most  in  keeping  with  our  fallen  condition, 
as  sinners,  to  "  bow  our  knees  to  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  that  in 
public,  as  our  Savior  has  said,  "  and  when  ye  stand 
praying,"  this  attitude  ought  always  to  be  adopted, 
where  the  other  cannot  be  conformed  to  with  equal 
convenience,  unless  disease  or  infirmity  prevent. 

Passing  by  the  traditionary  reasons  for  attitude, 
(that  in  kneeling  we  confess  that  we  fell  in  Adam, 
and  that  in  standing  we  are  risen  with  Christ,)  they 
consider  the  former  as  entirely  proper,  in  view  of 
the  infinite  distance  to  which  we  are  removed  from 
God  by  sin,  and  the  latter  equally  proper,  espe- 
cially in  public,  because  that  Jesus,  our  Prime  Min- 
ister in  the  court  of  heaven,  stands  to  intercede 
for  us. 


DISTINCT    INFLUENCE    ON   WORSHIP.  61 

As  it  would  be  highly  indecorous  for  criminals 
suing  for  pardon  through  their  prime  minister,  at 
an  earthly  throne,  to  forget  the  order  of  a  royal 
court,  and  the  honor  due  to  majesty,  so  the  pres- 
ence of  the  great  Jehovah  should  be  approached 
only  in  the  most  solemn  and  reverential  manner. 
"  The  publican,  who,  standing  afar  off,  would  not 
lift  up  so  much  as  his  eyes  to  heaven,"  presents  to 
us,  as  sinners  conscious  of  our  sins,  an  attitude 
which  we  may  safely  assume  in  the  "  house  of 
prayer." 

With  the  recorded  examples  of  Solomon,  Ezra, 
Paul,  Peter,  John,  and  others,  in  conducting  public 
worship  before  them,  Presbyterians  consider  it  most 
for  edification,  that  he  who  is  qualified  to  "  rightly 
divide  the  word  of  truth  "  to  a  church  should,  as 
their  mouth  to  God,  frame  their  public  prayers. 

Episcopalians,  reasoning,  it  would  seem,  from  the 
customs  of  some  noted  in  ecclesiastical  history,  not 
only  borrow  much  of  the  formula  of  the  Papal 
church  in  prayer,  but  employ  a  stereotyped  form  of 
human  arrangement,  which  extensively  chains  the 
fervent  desires  which  may  arise  in  an  anxious  as- 
sembly, and  the  most  sublime  and  sanctified  con- 
ceptions of  the  most  powerful  and  holy  minds, 
when  such  are  found  in  their  ministry,  down  to  the 
obsolete  expressions  and  commonplace  sayings  of 
the  times  of  King  Edward  VI.  of  England. 

In  this  part  of  worship  Congregationalists  bor- 
rowed, until  "  the  fight  of  the  nineteenth  century  " 
6 


62  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

shone  upon  them,  the  usages  of  Presbyterians. 
Under  its  irradiating  illumination,  those  who  (as 
we  shall  subsequently  see)  did  most  to  place  the 
"  strange  fire  "  of  human  hymnology,  instead  of  the 
Book  of  Psalms,  upon  the  altar  of  God,  have  cast 
aside  that  reverential  attitude,  which,  in  prayer, 
characterized  former  generations,  and  now,  without 
the  shadow  of  respect  for  his  Majesty,  sit  at  ease 
in  the  presence  of  the  Most  High.  The  same  in- 
difference and  disrespect  exhibited  in  a  royal  court, 
notwithstanding  all  the  influence  of  the  greatest 
favorite  as  prime  minister  interceding  on  their  be- 
half, would  spurn  them  from  the  presence  of  any 
earthly  sovereign,  and  exclude  their  petitions.  As 
their  church  government  may  be,  in  their  own  eyes, 
"  sufficiently  divine  "  without  being  wholly  drawn 
from  Scripture,  so  it  would  appear  that  an  attitude, 
a  degree  of  interest,  and  attention  in  prayer,  may 
be  "  sufficiently  divine,"  while  of  it  God  would  say, 
"  Offer  it  now  unto  thy  governor :  will  he  be  pleased 
with  thee,  or  accept  thy  person  ?  saith  the  Lord  of 
bosts."  Such,  however,  are  some  of  the  results 
which  spring  from  the  plastic  hand  of  "  the  customs 
of  the  churches,"  while  "  God  is  greatly  to  be  had 
in  reverence  of  all  them  that  are  about  him." 

In  preaching  the  gospel,  our  idea  of  radical  di- 
versity may  be  traced,  sometimes  in  the  matter,  and 
usually  in  the  manner.      I  have  previously  stated 
that  the  gospel,  offering  a  deliverance  by  the  cove 
nant  of  grace  from  the  desolations  under  which  we 


DISTINCT    INFLUENCE    ON    WORSHIP.  63 

have  fallen  by  the  violation  of  the  covenant  of 
works,  is  preached  with  equal  zeal  and  scriptural 
clearness  by  many  under  each  division,  and  that, 
consequently,  where  they  "  hold  fast  the  word  of 
life,"  they  "  are  workers  together  with  God  "  in  "  the 
work  of  the  ministry."  Still  there  is  usually  a  dif- 
ference in  the  manner  of  their  performance. 

With  true  Presbyterians,  the  prominent  idea  in 
all  the  teachings  of  the  pulpit,  whether  for  instruc- 
tion or  impression,  is  doctrine,  sound  doctrine.  It 
is  to  "  speak  the  truth  in  love,"  and  as  much  as 
possible  in  the  language  in  which  the  Spirit  teacheth, 
believing  that  no  better  imagery  for  a  vesture  to 
their  thoughts  and  truths  can  be  obtained  than 
those  "  similitudes  "  which  he  has  been  pleased  to 
employ.  Their  sermons,  consequently,  appear  to 
be  steeped  in  Scripture,  and  rich  with  unction. 
Believing  that  the  divine  command  to  the  minister 
of  Christ  is  not  simply  to  read,  but  to  preach  the 
gospel,  —  that  God  employs  the  voice,  looks,  and 
gestures  of  the  living  man,  —  they,  in  honoring  their 
own  scriptural  peculiarities,  avoid  the  slothful, 
prosy,  and  formal  exercise  of  reading,  by  which  the 
countenance  of  the  speaker  is  directed  to  the  earth, 
instead  of  to  the  eyes  of  his  immortal  auditors. 

With  Protestant  prelatists,  since  the  reign  of 
King  Charles  IL  of  England,  the  custom  has  com- 
monly been  different.  Much  labor  is  saved  by  the 
simple  exercise  of  reading;  and  when  placed  be- 
side preaching,  the  performance  of  service^  by  recit- 


64  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

ing  the  prayers,  litany,  liturgy,  lessons,  and  other  por- 
tions of  the  ritual  has  been  better  adapted  to  a  less 
severe  religion  than  bold,  faithful,  cogent,  extempo- 
raneous preaching  of  the  gospel.  Consequently, 
instead  of  preaching,  true  churchmen  usually  go 
read  "  the  unsearchable  riches  of   Christ." 

Among  the  Independents,  and  earlier  Congrega- 
tionalists,  as  they  had  nothing  in  this  matter  special 
or  peculiar,  so  they  delighted  with  Presbyterians,  to 
preach  Christ  crucified.  Modern  Congregational- 
ists  in  New  England  have,  however,  discovered 
that  if  reading  and  preaching  are  not,  in  the  esti- 
mation of  others,  in  fulfilling  the  commission  of 
the  minister  of  Christ,  the  same  thing,  yet  that  the 
"  system  "  of  reading  has  "  already  sprung  into  use 
among  them,"  and  consequently  this  usage,  "  where- 
in the  good  hand  of  God  has  moulded  them,"  must 
(in  their  estimation)  "  render  it  sufficiently  divine." 

While  the  gospel,  by  possibility,  may  be  faith- 
fully proclaimed  by  an  Edwards  or  a  Chalmers,  by 
reading,  still,  by  abandoning  "  the  old  way  "  of  ex- 
pository and  doctrinal  preaching,  with  the  living 
voice  and  earnest  countenance,  for  the  prosy  and 
jejune  detail  of  scriptural  doctrines  partially  pre- 
sented, or  stated  negatively, — for  the  metaphysical 
speculations,  or  refracted  truths  of  "  the  exercise," 
or  "taste,"  or  "  new  schemes,"  as  "read  in  her 
churches  every  Sabbath  day,"  —  New  England  has 
been  reduced  from  a  land  of  sound  doctrine,  gospel 
worship,  and  scriptural  holiness,  to  a  position  in 


DISTINCT    INFLUENCE    ON    WORSHIP.  65 

which  her  former  glories  were  her  brightest,  and  her 
past  honors  the  highest. 

The  united  college  of  her  doctors  of  divinity,  with 
their  eyes  *  riveted,  at  the  risk  of  silence  and  ex- 
posure, to  their  manuscripts,  and  a  few  occasional 
lateral  or  perpendicular  motions  of  the  only 
liberated  hand,  would  have  been  long  in  M  filling 
Jerusalem  with  their  doctrine,"  and  in  "turning 
the  world  upside  down."  Whether,  like  that  of  the 
protomartyr  Stephen,  their  audiences  would  or 
would  "  not  be  able  to  resist  the  wisdom  and  spirit 
by  which  "  they  might  speak,  is  uncertain ;  yet  it  is 
sure,  that  even  by  "  looking  steadfastly  upon"  them, 
they  could  not  always  see  their  faces.   (Acts  vi.  15.) 


*  Says  Grant  Thorburn,  Esq.,  "  One  Sabbath  evening,  about  seven- 
teen years  ago,  I  went  into  the  Brick  Meeting  (New  York)  to  hear  Dr. 
W.,  from  Connecticut,  preach.  There  he  stood  with  all  tbe  insignia 
of  office  —  white  bands,  silk  cloak,  and  tassels,  enough  to  bedeck  a 
modern  hearse  —  a  tall,  fine-looking  man.  I  thought  he  was  a  Boa- 
nerges personified.  Out  came  his  paper ;  he  read  along  pretty  well 
for  fifteen  minutes.  The  thunder  began  to  roll  over  Snake  Hill,  in 
the  Jerseys  ;  the  heavens  were  clothed  in  darkness  ;  his  spectacles 
failed,  and  he  was  obliged  to  sit  down  until  the  sexton  procured  lighted 
candles. 

"  I  thought  this  spoke  more  than  volumes  against  the  pernicious  prac- 
tice of  reading.  However,  next  day  I  learned  he  had  been  a  professor 
of  theology  for  seven  years  previous,  and  being  a  man  of  a  very  char- 
itable turn  of  mind,  I  thought  it  was  probable  he  might  have  given 
away  whatever  little  stock  of  divinity  he  once  possessed,  for  the  benefit 
of  those  young  students  whose  heads  he  had  been  polishing,  and  there- 
by left  nothing  to  himself.  I  also  learned  he  had  been  a  preacher  for 
twenty  years,  ten  of  which  he  had  passed  away  under  the  title  of 
doctor  of  divinity ;  but  there  he  sat,  and  could  not  speak  one  word  for 
his  Master,  without  the  'help  of  paper,  ink,  and  candlelight.'  " 

6* 


66  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

This  custom  of  reading  produces  specific  results. 
Those  who  are  trained  under  it  not  unfrequently 
become  mere  critics  of  the  style  and  performance 
of  their  instructor,  instead  of  saying,  "  We  are  all 
here  present  before  God,  to  hear  all  things  that  are 
commanded  thee  of  God."  In  this  respect  a  vast 
change  has  taken  place  in  New  England.* 

*  The  hearers  of  the  immortal  Whitcfield  in  the  land  of  the  Puritans, 
being  familiar  with  the  doctrines  «of  their  Primer,  could  hang  with 
earnest  attention  upon  his  lips.  "  The  days  of  the  Catechism  "  are 
now  so  far  past,  that  his  doctrine  would  secure  but  a  partial  reception, 
while  to  him,  by  a  modern  congregation,  would  soon  be  assigned  his 
position  as  an  orator,  or  a  smart,  or  a  beautiful  man.  At  least  this  was 
in  part  verified  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Duff,  when  he  preached  in  Boston  on 
April  23,  1854.  In  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  elsewhere,  he  so  at- 
tracted the  Presbyterian  ear,  that  at  times  it  was  impracticable  to  hear 
him  ;  yet  in  Tremont  Temple  a  part  of  his  audience,  having  heard  him 
long  enough  to  gratify  curiosity,  withdrew,  although  he  once  and  again 
requested  them  as  worshippers  to  hear  the  word  of  God.  In  relation 
to  his  preaching  in  this  city,  the  press,  religious  and  secular,  kept  a 
most  ominous  silence. 


CHAPTER    V. 

EACH  RADICAL  DIVISION  IN  GOVERNMENT  HAS  A  COR- 
RESPONDING INFLUENCE  ON  THE  MATTER  AND  MAN- 
NER OF  PRAISE,  AS  A  PART  OF  DIVINE  WORSHIP. 

Where  men  believe  that  the  entire  word  of  God 
alone  is  all  plenarily  inspired,  they  maintain  that  by 
it  only  can  the  man  of  God  become  perfect,  and 
thoroughly  furnished  as  a  worshipper. 

Such  is  the  structure  of  the  sacred  volume,  that 
while  it  contains  no  book  of  prayers,  it  has  in  the 
book  of  Psalms  a  perfect  "  epitome  of  the  Bible, 
adapted  to  the  purposes  of  devotion."  The  books 
bearing  other  names  in  the  holy  oracles,  form,  as 
they  were  written,  each  a  separate  whole,  the  divis- 
ions of  chapter  and  verse  being  unknown  in  the 
days  of  the  apostles,  wThile  the  Psalms  then  stood 
each  one  a  perfect  whole,  in  their  present  numerical 
order.  (Acts  xiii.  33.)  As  God  alone  can  declare 
what  he  will  accept  as  praise  from  redeemed  sin- 
ners, so  he  has  provided  precisely  what  they  are  re- 
quired to  offer  as  "  the  fruit  of  their  lips,"  in  those 
psalms,  hymns,  and  spiritual  odes,  which  form  em- 
phatically the  "  word  of  Christ,"  the  sepher  tehillim, 
the  Book  of   Praises,  the  Psalms.      Prepared  for 

(67) 


68 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


the  true  Christian,  and  precisely  adapted  by  the  God 
of  grace  to  the  condition  of  every  "  Israelite  in- 
deed," (as  the  circumambient  air  is  by  our  Creator 
to  the  human  lungs,)  they  are  fitted  to  show  forth 
with  precision  the  divine  glory  in  all  the  subjects 
of  revelation,  and  throughout  the  wide  domain  of 
creation  and  providence.  Hence  the  command  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  is,  "  Is  any,"  in  all  the  diversified 
conditions  of  human  existence,  "  merry  ?  let  him 
sing  psalms."  The  Christians  and  churches  at 
Colosse  and  Ephesus,  having  these  hymns  and 
odes,  were  commanded  to  "  let  the  word  of  Christ 
dwell  in  them  richly,"  and  with  them,  combined 
with  the  graces  of  their  divine  Author,  they  were  — 
and  so  are  all  believers  —  to  "make  melody  in  their 
hearts  to  the  Lord."  To  the  spiritual  worshipper, 
not  to  the  mere  sentimentalist,  they  afford  a  partic- 
ular display  of  all  the  operations  of  the  soul,  both 
in  her  trials  and  sorrows,  and  in  all  the  joys  and 
triumphs  of  the  divine  life  alike.  Being,  in  the 
language  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  D wight,  "  chiefly  an  ac- 
count of  the  experimental  religion  of  inspired 
men,"  and  being  absolutely  perfect,  they  differ  from 
all  human  hymns  and  paraphrases  of  parts  of  the 
other  Scriptures,  which  must  of  necessity,  as  they 
express  merely  the  opinions,  bear,  to  some  extent, 
the  impress  and  imperfections  of  their  authors,  or 
the  sectarian  views  of  their  selectors,  and  can  at 
best  be  but  the  exponent  of  "  the  experimental 
religion  of  unm  spired  men."     Hence  human  hymns, 


THE    MATTER    OF    PRAISE.  69 

being  limited  only  by  the  varied  and  ever-fluctuat- 
ing doctrinal  opinions  of  men,  and  by  the  exhaus- 
tion of  fancy  and  poetical  genius  on  the  part  of 
their  authors,  can  never  safely  lead  the  soul  with 
acceptance  to  God  in  praise,  where  his  own  songs 
are  rejected.  "  Who  hath  required  this  at  your 
hand  ?  Bring  no  more  vain  oblations."  While  the 
Psalms  were  employed  in  the  synagogues,  which 
for  several  years  were  the  first  and  usual  places  of 
Christian  worship,  and  by  the  Corinthian,  (1  Cor. 
xiv.  26,)  the  Ephesian,  and  Colossian  churches,  and, 
as  we  may  then  reasonably  conclude,  in  all  the 
primitive  churches,  the  substitution  of  human 
hymns  in  their  stead,  as  the  matter  of  public  praise 
to  God,  was  the  result  of  the  declension  of  "  pure 
and  undefiled  religion,"  as  "  the  dark  ages  "  began 
to  settle  down  upon  Christendom  by  the  growth  of 
the  Papal  power.  According  to  the  Rev.  Charles 
Buck,  "  St.  Hilary,  Bishop  of  Poictiers,  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  who  composed  hymns  to  be  sung 
in  churches ;  and  he  was  followed  by  St.  Ambrose. 
Most  of  those  in  the  Roman  breviary  were  com- 
posed by  Prudentius."  Believing  too  much,  Papal 
Rome  composes  human  hymns  for,  and  offers  praise 
to,  the  Virgin  Mary,  to  angels,  and  to  saints. 

The  Anglican  church,  adopting,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, her  forms,  has  retained  with  the  Psalter,  her 
Te  Deum,  Betiedicite,  Magnificat,  Benedictus,  and 
Nunc  Dimittis ;  and  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
church  of  this  country  has  added  to  these  a  collec- 


70  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

tion  of  human  hymns,  with  this  injunction,  "  It  is 
ordered,  that  when  any  hymn  is  sung,  a  portion  of 
the  Psalter  shall  be  sung  also."  This  order  appears 
to  consider  the  act  of  singing  human  hymns  as 
doubtful  in  the  eye  of  the  divine  law,  and  then  it 
sanctifies  the  deed  by  vamping  the  cobwebs  of 
man's  thoughts  with  the  ever-new  song  of  Jeho- 
vah. 

Appointing  in  all  things  (as  we  have  seen)  the 
worship  of  his  societies,  it  would  prove  treason  to 
his  self-adulation,  as  well  as  death  to  his  Arminian 
doctrines,  to  allow  "  the  people  called  Methodists," 
to  "  sing  psalms ; "  consequently,  the  Rev.  John 
Wesley  carefully  prepared  for  them  a  book  of 
hymns,  in  the  preface  to  which  he  says,  "  It  is  large 
enough  to  contain  all  the  important  truths  of  our 
holy  religion,  whether  speculative  or  practical ;  yea, 
to  illustrate  them  all,  and  to  prove  them  all  by 
Scripture  and  by  reason.  And  this  is  done  in  reg- 
ular order."  Expressing  his  holy  indignation  at 
some  who  had  reprinted,  and,  in  modern  phrase- 
ology, "  improved "  a  part  of  his  hymns,  he  ex- 
claims, "  I  desire  they  would  not  attempt  to 
mend  them,  for  they  really  are  not  able.  None  of 
them  are  able  to  mend  either  the  sense  or  the  verse." 

His  followers  in  hymnology  obviously  believe  too 
much,  as  perfection,  in  "  the  sense  "  beyond  the  reach 
of  improvement,  can  be  claimed  for  the  writings  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  alone.  "  The  law  of  the  Jehovah 
is  perfect;"  and  here  this  reverend  gentleman  de- 


THE    MATTER    OF    PRAISE.  71 

velops,  in  part,  the  Congregational  element  in  his 
compound,  and  talks  of  the  "important  truths  of 
our  holy  religion ; "  consequently  there  must  be  in 
the  Bible  truths  which  are  not  important.  Nay,  if 
the  whole  sacred  volume  were  consigned  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  all  the  "impor- 
tant "  parts  of  its  contents,  and  all  the  doctrines  of 
our  religion,  could  be  obtained  from  the  hymns  of 
the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  and  then  "  babes  "  in  spirit- 
ual understanding  would  have  "  all  the  important 
truths  "  of  the  w^ord  of  life,  without  the  labor  of 
separating  the  chaff  from  the  wheat. 

This  indistinctness  on  the  subject  of  inspiration, 
which  cannot  discriminate  between  "the  Lord's 
song"  and  the  doctrinal  poetical  opinions  of  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley,  or  other  erring  mortals,  discloses 
an  exuberance  of  faith,  mingled  with  a  rejection  of 
the  imaginary  "  ^important  truths  "  of  revelation, 
or  a  faith  broader  than  the  divine  word  on  the  one 
hand,  and  narrower  on  the  other. 

In  this  department  of  religious  worship,  the 
genius  of  modern  Congregationalism  stands  out  in 
bold  relief.  Here  the  matter  of  praise  may  be 
"  sufficiently  divine,"  even  when  the  entire  book  of 
Psalms  is  excluded,  or  only  detached  sentences  of 
it  presented  in  an  imitation.  To  arrive  at  this 
transcendental  elevation,  it  required  the  light  of  the 
eighteenth  century  to  produce  an  author,  and  the 
growth  of  an  easy  and  sentimental  religion,  to  ap- 
preciate such  poetical  refinement. 


72  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

To  those  men  of  coarser  clay,  whose  bodies  fed 
the  flames  of  Smithfield,  or  filled  the  Grass  Market 
at  Edinburgh  with  victims,  in  sealing  "the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus  "  with  their  blood,  such  "  an  imita- 
tion of  David  in  Christian  hymns  for  the  use  of 
vulgar  Christians,"  would  be  viewed  in  the  same 
light  as  did  the  children  of  the  captivity  in  Babylon 
view  "  the  daily  provision  of  the  king's  meat  and 
drink."  With  it  they  would  not  "  defile  "  them- 
selves. The  manner  in  which  the  Rev.  Isaac 
Watts,  who  is  the  prince  of  all  hymnologists,  para- 
phrase makers,  and  imitators  of  the  Psalms,  dealt 
with  the  one  hundred  and  nineteenth  psalm,  will 
afford,  I  suppose,  a  fair  exhibition  of  his  designs  in 
his  undertaking,  his  maimer  of  "  handling  the 
word  of  God,"  and  the  defect  in  this  point  of  that 
ecclesiastical  regimen  of  which  he  was  a  boasted 
ornament  and  an  avowed  defender.  In  his  preface 
to  it  he  says,  "  I  have  collected  and  disposed  the 
most  useful  verses  of  this  psalm  under  eighteen 
different  heads,  and  formed  a  divine  song  upon  each 
of  them.  But  the  verses  are  much  transposed,  to 
attain  some  degree  of  connection." 

"  The  words  of  the  Lord  are  pure  words,  as 
silver  tried  in  a  furnace  of  earth,  purified  seven 
times,"  is  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  but 
in  this  psalm  the  doctor  discovers  two  elevenths  of 
dross,  or,  at  least,  of  less  "  useful  verses."  He  had 
also  to  transpose  them  much,  that  they  might  "  at- 
tain some  degree  of  connection." 


THE    MATTER    OF    PRAISE.  73 

If  it  were  not  that  the  admirers  of  the  reverend 
doctor  are  exceedingly  sensitive,  and  when  his  poet- 
ical productions  are  not  exalted  to  the  second 
heavens,  they  are  not  always  "  slow  to  wrath,"  I 
would,  in  the  simplicity  of  my  heart,  call  this  con- 
structive blasphemy. 

While  homage  is  paid  to  his  name  by  every  sect 
of  Congregational! sts,  and  by  a  large  proportion  of 
the  Presbyterians  in  the  United  States,  who,  with- 
out duly  discriminating  wherein  his  productions 
dishonor  the  word  of  God,  adopt  his  imitation  of 
the  Psalms,  and  draw  largely  upon  his  books  of 
hymns,  still  the  teeth  of  Time  are  abrading  his 
verses. 

Forming  both  the  pabulum  and  condiment  of  a 
gigantic  and  growing  religious  sentimentality,  his 
stanzas  are  altered  or  omitted  at  the  caprice  of  those 
to  whom,  in  the  department  of  poetry,  his  "  little 
finger  would  be  thicker  than  their  loins."  Probably 
more  than  one  hymn  book  for  each  Sabbath  in  the 
year  has  thus,  at  his  expense,  or  at  least  after  his 
example,  been  prepared ;  so  that,  if  he  were  now  to 
stand  upon  earth,  and  see  around  him  his  imitators 
and  rivals,  and  the  assimilating  process,  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  religious  verses,  in  which  they  are  en- 
gaged, he  might  find  difficulty  in  establishing  the 
identity  of  his  mental  progeny,  while  they,  as  they 
spring  into  existence,  and  are  standing  up  no  incon- 
siderable army,  saluting  him,  might  exclaim,  Isaac, 
"  who  is  the  father  of  us  all!  "  Although,  in  his 
7 


74  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

estimation,  "  never  was  a  piece  of  experimental  di- 
vinity so  nobly  written  "  as  the  Book  of  Psalms, 
"  still  there  are  a  thousand  lines  in  it  which  (said 
he)  were  not  made  for  a  church  in  our  days  to  as- 
sume as  its  own."  In  it  "  there  are  also  many  de- 
ficiencies of  light  and  glory."  As  these  sentiments 
are  doubtless  approved,  as  we  may  most  reasonably 
suppose,  by  all  who,  with  his  poetry,  supersede  in 
religious  worship  "  the  songs  of  Zion,"  we  here  see 
a  specimen  of  the  workings  of  Congregationalism 
when  sitting  in  judgment  on  the  appointed  matter 
of  divine  praise.     Jas.  v.  13. 

We  now  turn  to  the  opinion  of  those  Presbyte- 
rians who  sustain  in  this  particular  the  analogy  of 
that  view  which  they  entertain  of  the  Bible  as  the 
perfect  rule  of  life,  and  of  the  Psalms  as  the  ap- 
pointed matter  of  praise  in  the  church  of  "the 
living  God."  So  plausibly  have  the  opponents  of 
the  exclusive  use  of  the  Psalms  set  forth,  as  objec- 
tions to  their  adaptation  to  the  Christian  state,  the 
assertions,  that  they  are  Jewish,  and  that  they 
breathe  curses  contrary  to  the  law  of  Christ,  that 
nearly  all  British  Presbyterians  have  supposed  that 
they  might  supply  their  defects  by  metrical  render- 
ings of  other  parts  of  Scripture;  and  in  nothing  do 
they  more  endanger  the  cause  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness than  by  this  unauthorized  addition  to  the 
songs  of  Jehovah. 

What  is  at  best  very  uncertain,  as  they  offer  for 
it  no  divine  authority,  the  United  Secession  church 


THE    MATTER    OF    PRAISE  75 

of  Scotland,  in  1828,  "  admitted  that  other  parts 
of  Scripture  may  be  used  in  praise ;  but,"  say  they 
in  their  testimony,*  "we  reject  the  principle  that 
the  book  of  Psalms  is  not  suited  to  the  Christian 
dispensation.  We  have  not  the  most  remote  hint 
in  Scripture  that  the  Psalms  were  not  intended  for 
permanent  use,  which  we  certainly  might  have  ex- 
pected, had  they  been  solely  adapted  to  the  Jewish 
economy.  Their  structure,  the  vast  range  of  their 
subjects,  their  sublimity  and  pathos,  their  diversified 
bearings  on  matters  of  common  experience,  with 
their  clear  and  decided  reference  to  the  person,  suf- 
ferings, and  reign  of  Messiah,  render  them  suitable 
to  the  church  in  every  age.  To  assert  that  they  are 
not  fit  to  be  sung  in  Christian  assemblies,  on  ac- 
count of  their  peculiar  phraseology,  is  to  condemn 
the  very  language  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
borrows  its  most  expressive  terms  from  the  typical 
system.  To  allege  that  in  any  instance  they  breathe 
a  spirit  inconsistent  with  the  gospel,  is  to  represent 
the  Holy  Ghost  as  at  variance  with  himself.  The 
law  of  love  was  as  truly  enjoined  with  regard  to 
enemies  under  the  old  as  under  the  new  dispensa- 
tion. (Ex.  xxiii.  4,  5;  Lev.  xix.  17,  18  ;  Deut.  xxiii. 
7 ;  Prov.  xxiv.  17, 18 ;  xxv.  21,  22,  &c,  &c.)  While, 
therefore,  we  admit  the  inspiration  of  the  Psalms, 
we  cannot  consistently  impute  to  them  any  thing 
contrary  to  this  law.     None  of  the  Psalms  ought 

*  Ed.  Edin.,  1828. 


76  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

ever  to  be  applied  to  private  feuds  or  personal 
quarrels.  Those  which  have  been  ignorantly  sup- 
posed to  breathe  a  spirit  of  revenge,  are  either  pre- 
dictions by  the  Messiah,  as  the  great  Prophet; 
or  his  judicial  denunciations,  as  Zion's  King,  on  his 
implacable  enemies ;  or  the  expression  of  -the  ac- 
quiescence of  his  people  in  his  judgments,  which 
none  can  celebrate  in  worship  without  deeply 
solemnizing  and  salutary  impressions.  Even  in  the 
New  Testament  similar  sentiments  and  phraseology 
frequently  occur.  ( Matt,  xxiii. ;  Acts  i.  20  ;  Rom. 
xi.  9,  10 ;  Rev.  xi.  17-19 ;  xiv.  7 ;  xv.  3,  4 ;  xviii. 
20.)  Benevolence  may  deplore  the  necessity  of 
judgments,  but  it  will  rejoice  in  their  ultimate  de- 
sign and  effect,  as  directed  under  the  administration 
of  Messiah,  to  the  subversion  of  all  the  systems 
which  are  hostile  to  the  best  interests  of  mankind." 
These  scriptural  views  are  entertained  also  by 
the  Presbyterian  church  of  Ireland,  according  to  the 
terms  of  its  union  ;  by  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
church  in  all  its  branches  ;  by  the  Associate,  and  by 
the  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian  churches  in 
America.  The  other  branches  or  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  family  in  the  United  States  so  far 
Assimilate  to  Congregationalists,  as  to  borrow  the 
poetry  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Watts,  or  to  prepare  other 
matter  on  his  model.  The  relative  increasing  influ- 
ence of  Congregationalism  within  the  Presbyterian 
churches,  as  among  "the  signs  of  the  times"  may 
be   in  part  indicated  by  this  fact,  that  the  same 


THE    MATTER    OF    PRAISE.  77 

United  Secession  have  in  less  than  twenty-five 
years  (by  a  union  with  a  branch  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian family,  strongly  predisposed  to  Congregation- 
alism from  its  origin,  especially  in  its  chosen  mat- 
ter of  praise,)  ignored  their  above  recorded  scrip- 
tural testimony  on  this  subject. 

As  Ahaz,  the  king,  preferred  "the  fashion  and 
pattern  of  "  an  "  altar  "  which  "  he  saw  at  Damas- 
cus," to  the  antiquated  and  Jewish  form  established 
in  conformity  to  divine  appointment  at  Jerusalem, 
and  as  Urijah,  the  priest,  built  an  altar  according 
to  the  more  refined  and  cultivated  choice  of  his 
majesty,  so  the  popular  taste  has  been  consulted, 
by  this  denomination,  to  the  exclusion,  partial  or 
total,  (as  those  who  officiate  in  public  worship  may 
determine,)  of  the  Psalms,  which,  in  1828,  were 
"  suitable  to  the  church  in  every  age."  The  proof 
of  this  will  be  seen  by  the  following  extract  from 
the  Glasgow  Examiner,  of  September  18,  1852:  — 

"  Hymn  Book  of  the  U.  P.  Church.  The  collec- 
tion includes  a  great  many  beautiful  effusions  of 
sanctified  genius,  and  not  a  few  very  trashy  produc- 
tions. We  feel  very  sensitive  on  the  score  of  hymn 
books ;  and,  while  we  admit  that  hymns  may  be 
occasionally  used,  we  decidedly  protest  against 
their  superseding  the  productions  of  the  '  sweet 
singer  of  Israel'  The  U.  P.  church  has  taken  an  im- 
portant step  in  making  a  hymn  book  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  its  highest  court,  and  other  bodies  would 
do  well  to  pause  before  following  this  example." 
7* 


78  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

When  these  "beautiful  effusions"  and  "very 
trashy  productions  "  are  bound  up  with  the  Psalms, 
as  are  the  "  paraphrases "  and  already  existing 
"  hymns,"  —  when  they  are  "  learned  and  inwardly 
digested,"  —  it  will  be  no  matter  of  astonishment  if 
the  ecclesiastical  descendants  of  the  church  of  the 
Erskines  should  "speak  half  in  the  speech  of  Ash- 
dod,"  and  should  lose  "the  Jews'  language"  in 
doctrine,  as  they  will  assuredly  do  in  the  matter  of 
praise.  Nay,  would  it  be  any  cause  of  astonish- 
ment to  find  that  those  who  employ  these  "  beauti- 
ful effusions  of ".  partially  "  sanctified  genius,"  as 
equal  or  preferable  to  the  songs  of  "the  sweet 
singer  of  Israel,"  (for  the  next  twenty-five  years,) 
should  discover  that  the  manner  in  which  such  a 
custom  has  sprung  into  use  must  render  it  "  suffi- 
ciently divine "  to  cast  aside  with  the  Psalms,  as 
the  appointed  matter  of  that  "new  song"  which 
God  puts  into  the  mouth  of  every  soul  whom 
he  takes  from  the  fearful  pit  and  out  of  the  miry 
clay,  all  that  is  denominational,  or  peculiarly  con- 
nected, in  government  and  discipline,  with  the  lay- 
ing on  of  the. hands  of  the  presbytery? 

Here  we  find  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  cer- 
tain agencies  for  the  increase  and  perpetuity  of 
sectarianism.  All  human  hymns  are  sectarian ; 
while  the  songs  of  Jehovah  are  like  the  vital  air 
and  the  light  of  heaven,  limited  by  no  shibboleth, 
and  are  the  common  expression  of  the  experiment- 
al joys  and  sorrows,  conflicts  and  victories,  of  all 


THE    MATTER    OF    PRAISE.  79 

the  children  of  God,  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus, 
whether  Jew  or  Gentile. 

Every  one  of  the  divers  and  strange  doctrines  of 
errorists  and  sectarians  must  have  specific  and  ap- 
propriate hymns  for  their  propagation.  None  of 
them  can  be  satisfied  with  the  words  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  by  the  mouth  of  David. 

As  they  are  often  written  to  contradict  each 
other,  so  they  of  necessity  cherish  sectarianism,  and 
on  the  walls  of  Zion  her  watchmen  can  never  see 
eye  to  eye  while  they  supplant  the  Book  of  Psalms. 
But  four  or  five  of  all  the  sects  in  Christendom  use 
exclusively  the  Sepher  Tehillim,  the  Book  of 
Praises,  while  in  the  United  States  there  is  proba- 
bly at  least  one  sectarian  hymn  book  for  each  Sab- 
bath in  the  year.     Pro  v.  xxx.  6. 

If  those  who  revel  in  these  chosen  fields  of 
poetry  were  to  bring  "their  books  together  and 
burn  them,"  while  on  "  counting  the  price  of  them 
they  might  find  it  more  than  fifty  thousand  pieces 
of  silver,"  yet  they  would  destroy  very  little  that  is 
truly  valuable.     Of  this  I  adduce  competent  proof. 

Says  a  "  Layman,"  in  the  New  York  Independent, 
February  23,  1854,  "  We  have  some  two  thou- 
sand pieces  which  are  called  psalms  or  hymns. 
Perhaps  two  hundred  of  them  may  pass  for  odes 
or  lyrics,  suitable  for  singing.  Fifty  more  might 
possibly  be  selected  by  an  expert." 

"  Professor  B.  B.  Edwards  believed  *  that  two  or 

*  Boston  Congregationalist,  July  15,  1853. 


80 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


three  hundred  psalms  or  hymns  would  include  all 
which  are  of  sterling  value  for  the  sanctuary.  Un- 
questionably he  was  right.  The  popular  demand 
for  new  and  more  numerous  hymns,  it  cannot  be 
denied,  arises  in  part  from  the  wide  dissatisfaction 
With  a  large  number  of  those  with  which  our  hymn 
books  are  filled.  Let  us  have  fewer  and  choicer. 
Let  them  be  truly  sacred  lyrics,  and  not  feeble 
prose,  measured  and  amputated  to  the  proper 
length,  and  afterwards  still  further  mangled  at  the 
mercy  of  men  who  wonder  that  David  "  (or  rather 
the  Holy  Ghost  who  spake  by  him)  "  had  not  suffi- 
cient native  sense  to  have  composed  his  Psalms  in 
proper  metres,  ready  at  once  to  be  cantered  through 
'  De  Fleury,  or  paced  through  State  Street/  " 

Such  is  the  verdict  of  competent  judges,  as  to 
the  amount  of  poetry  in  the  American  market,  and 
its  adaptation  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  pious  hymn 
singers.  Verily,  it  is  not  much  more  flattering  than 
the  opinion  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Watts  was  in  relation 
to  the  songs  of  Jehovah,  when  he  asserted,  "  that 
there  are  a  thousand  lines  in  it  (the  Book  of 
Psalms)  which  were  not  made  for  a  church  in  our 
days  to  assume  as  its  own."  *  "  Vain  man  would 
be  wise,"  yet  "  the  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than 
men." 

*  23d  ed.  London,  1793. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  MANNER  OF  PRAISE. 

Into  the  manner  of  conducting  praise,  as  a  part 
of  divine  worship,  our  radical  classification  en- 
ters. 

Presbyterians,  observing  that  worship  was  con- 
ducted, during  the  apostolic  age,  not  only  for  several 
years  in  the  synagogue,  when  liberty  could  be  ob- 
tained so  to  do,  but  always  in  the  synagogue  man- 
ner, of  which  singing  collectively  a  portion  of  the 
Psalms  formed  a  part,  have  always  maintained, 
that  "  it  is  the  duty  of  Christians  to  praise  God 
publicly  by  singing  psalms  together  in  the  congre- 
gation, and  also  privately  in  the  family.  In  singing 
of  psalms  the  voice  is  to  be  tunably  and  gravely 
ordered ;  but  the  chief  care  must  be  to  sing  with 
understanding,  and  with  grace  in  the  heart,  making 
melody  unto  the  Lord." 

Prelatists,  on  the  other  hand,  borrow  their  mode 
of  conducting  praise  in  worship,  more,  if  not 
wholly,  from  the  temple  service,  where,  with  other 
appointed  appliances,  were  official  musicians  with 
varied  musical  instruments,  all  calculated  to  make 
a  deep   impression  upon  the  imagination,  and  to 

(81) 


82  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

inspire  with  emotions  of  awe  the  breasts  of  the 
worshippers. 

This  was  appropriate  while  Jehovah  dwelt  be- 
tween the  cherubim  on  earth ;  but  since  "  the  veil  of 
the  temple  was  rent  in  twain "  at  the  death  of 
Christ,  such  an  arrangement  is  unwarranted,  being 
unscriptural ;  and  it  requires  a  surplus  of  faith  be- 
yond the  teaching  and  demands  of  the  word  of 
God  to  perpetuate  it.  Where  men  "  believe  too 
much,"  we  have  choirs,  "  singing  men  and  singing 
women,"  who  perform,  "rejoice  at  the  sound  of 
the  organ,"  and  are  (oftentimes  at  least)  supposed 
to  advance  the  inferior  worshippers  heavenward 
by  proxy. 

Hence,  not  only  do  we  find  set  forth  by  the  Pope 
of  Rome,  since  its  adoption  by  Vitalian  in  A.  D. 
671,  the  organ,  that  Gothic  product  of  the  dark 
ages,  with  full  orchestral  accompaniments  to  the 
masses,  but  oratorios,  or  sacred  dramas,  together 
with  the  cantata.  "  The  oratorios  were  invented 
about  A.  D.  1540,  and  were  derived  from  the  mys- 
teries and  moralities  which  formed  the  dramatic 
representations  of  Europe  for  several  centuries." 
"  They  were  invented  *  for  the  purpose  of  awaken- 
ing a  somewhat  profane  zeal  in  Rome,  by  gratifying 
the  senses  with  the  interest  and  voluptuousness  of 
the  drama.  The  cantata  is  of  later  origin  than  the 
oratorio,  and  is  a  solo,  consisting  of  recitative  airs, 
like  the  music  of  an  opera." 

*  Says  Bombet. 


THE    MANNER   OF    PRAISE.  83 

For  "  awakening  a  somewhat  profane  zeal,  by- 
gratifying  the  senses,"  Papal  Rome  is  aware  that 
"  music  has  charms  to  soothe,"  at  seasons,  the  heretic 
breast,  and  she  gives  us  occasionally  some  of  the 
doings  and  boastings  of  her  sons  in  this  way.  At 
the  opening  of  a  mass  house  in  a  New  England 
village,  (Fitchburg,)  in  1852,  "  the  chanting  was 
very  impressive  ;  it  was  the  first  time  that  the  voice 
of  '  the  spouse  '  was  heard  in  this  region,  hymning 
the  praises  of  her  'Beloved,'  in  her  own  time- 
honored  notes;  and  many,  who,  on  other  occasions, 
would  perhaps  have  shown  little  sympathy  with  the 
humble  Catholic,  were  affected  even  to  tears.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  McGuigan  sung  the  mass  ;  the  choral  part 
was  performed  by  some  of  the  members  of  the 
orchestra  and  choir  of  St.  John's,  in  Worcester." 

Again  :  on  May  9,  185*2,  at  "  the  second  national 
council  of  the  [Roman]  Catholic  church  in  the  Unit- 
ed States,  a  grand  high  mass  was  performed.  Over 
one  hundred  vocalists  were  in  the  choir,  besides  the 
Germania  Band :  the  Episcopal  body  sung  another 
ceremonial,  chanting  the  Miserere  and  Litany." 

The  Anglican  church  has  "  services  and  an- 
thems for  cathedrals,  and  psalm  tunes  for  parish 
churches,  into  which  congregational  singing  was 
introduced  on  system,  though  by  degrees.  The 
subsequent  decay  of  parochial  psalmody  has  been 
gradual,  and  the  wretched  state  of  music  in  our 
parish  churches  is  undisputed."  * 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  193. 


84 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


Having  nothing  original  from  the  Scriptures  in 
their  worship,  the  earlier  Independents  and  the  Con- 
gregationalists  of  New  England  imitated  the  Pres- 
byterians, and  sung  psalms.  Since  "  the  light,"  and 
especially  the  noonday  light  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, has  arisen,  scattered  the  darkness  of  Puritan 
theology,  and  made  human  opinion,  to  a  great  de- 
gree, the  judge  of  what  constitutes  the  word  of 
God,  it  has  not  only  (among  the  branches  of  this 
radical  division)  cast  aside  the  psalms,  and  intro- 
duced hymns  as  the  matter ',  but,  in  connection  with 
these,  changed  the  manner  of  singing  the  praises 
of  Jehovah.  We  have  already  noticed  the  multi- 
plicity of  human  hymns ;  and  as  these  are  all  of 
them  "  the  work  of  the  craftsmen,"  so  they  must 
have  music  to  suit.  Consequently,  thousands  of 
tunes  have  been  prepared,  or  written,  generally 
calculated  only  to  cultivate  a  mere  sentimental 
taste.* 

*  "  On  the  sentimental,  languishing  effect  of  tunes,"  says  the  New 
York  Independent,  p.  66,  March  2,  1854,  "  one  of  our  American  paint- 
ers, a  man  of  refined  and  quick  sensibilities,  once  told  me  that  the 
music  of  a  church  in  Connecticut  he  was  in  the  habit  of  attending  was 
for  the  most  part  of  so  sentimental  and  languishing  a  character,  that 
he  habitually  went  away  from  church,  revelling  in  dreams  of  nothing 
but  love  and  romance ;  that  this  effect  of  the  music  was  irresistible 
upon  him,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  more  desirable  effects  by  service  or 
sermon.  This  can  be  understood  by  the  musician.  There  is  very 
much  music  sung  in  our  churches  which  would  better  express  the 
song,  '  Oft  in  the  Stilly  Night,'  or  '  Meet  me  by  Moonlight,'  than  the 
sacred  words  to  which  it  is  applied.  Besides  those  which  produce  the 
sentimental  and  languishing,  some  tunes  have  the  rub-a-dub,  and 
others  the  dance  effect." 


THE    MANNER   OF    PRAISE.  85 

Hence,  the  ear  of  the  worshipper  for  the  moment 
received  pleasure,  while  the  soul,  in  its  boundless 
desires,  cried,  "  Give,  give,"  and  to  obtain  fresh  sup- 
plies of  gratification,  not  only  were  new  hymns  ar- 
ranged and  new  tunes  prepared,  but  choirs  were 
soon  employed  to  supersede  the  celebration  of 
praise  as  a  duty  by  the  whole  congregation.  Here 
new  sources  of  trouble  were  discovered.  Choirs 
being  under  no  controlling  power  of  a  curate,  ves- 
try, or  session,  and  composed  generally  of  youth, 
who  are  often  the  best  singers  in  a  congregation, 
they  soon  formed  an  independent  association,  a 
"compact  of  members,"  who  could  show  most 
readily  their  own  importance.  How  many  pastors 
have  felt  the  awkwardness  of  their  position,  and 
how  many  aged  saints  have  been  grieved  at  the  im- 
portance assumed,  and  with  the  conduct  displayed 
in  the  house  of  God,  by  this  class  of  functionaries !  * 
In  many  cases,  their  insubordination,  levity,  and 
profanation  of  the  Sabbath,  have  induced  the  wor- 
shippers, when  thus  far  entered  on  an  unscriptural 
course,  to  proceed  farther  in  will-worship,  to  both 


*  A  writer  in  the  Euterpeiad,  quoted  from  the  Western  Observer  by 
the  Boston  Volunteer,  Vol.  I.,  p.  95,  Oct.  1831,  says,  "  I  cannot  but  con- 
gratulate Christians  on  the  happy  change  that  has  already  taken  place. 
Instead  of  seeing  choirs  in  our  churches  where  brandy  and  water  are 
passed  round  before  singing,  and  where  oranges  and  candy  are  dis- 
tributed by  trifling  men  to  trifling  women,  we  meet  now  frequently 
with  a  more  cheering  aspect.  Such  things  many  a  time  have  occurred 
in  days  that  are  past,  even  among  New  England  people.  A  long  and 
doleful  list  might  also  be  added ;  but  we  forbear." 


86  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

gratify  and  endeavor  to  control  the  choir,  by  the 
introduction  and  use  of  that  "  thing  without  life, 
giving  sound  "  —  the  organ. 

The  feelings  of  a  pastor,  "in  the  high  places"  of 
Congregationalism,  when  reduced  to  the  echo  of  an 
organ  gallery,  are  thus  portrayed  by  the  Rev.  John 
Angell  James,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  Glasgow  Ex- 
aminer of  October  12,  1850.  Says  he,  "  An  organ 
renders  the  congregation  independent  of  that  most 
sensitive,  and  in  many  cases  most  troublesome  and 
unmanageable  of  all  classes  of  functionaries  —  a 
choir.  Singing  seats,  as  they  are  called,  are  more 
commonly  the  scenes  of  discord  than  any  other 
part  of  the .  chapel ;  and  it  is  indeed  revolting  to 
every  pious  feeling,  to  see  sometimes  what  charac- 
ters, and  to  hear  what  music,  are  found  in  these 
high  places  of  the  sanctuary."  When  a  British 
Independent  thus  truthfully  complains,  the  feelings 
of  every  pious  clergyman  in  the  Congregational 
churches  in  America,  if  they  were  as  candidly  spread 
on  paper,  would  show  the  same  colorings,  and  man- 
ifest the  unscripturai  character  of  organ  lofts,  which 
were  borrowed  by  the  Anglican  church  from  the 
Papal,  and  through  a  disregard  to  divine  authority, 
are  reborrowed  by  those  who  devoutly  follow  "  the 
customs  of  the  churches,"  and  consider  "  sufficiently 
divine  "  what  has  "  sprung  into  use  among  them." 
The  supplanting  of  Congregational  singing  by  a 
choir  and  an  organ  among  those,  who,  in  relation 
to  the  word  of  God,  "  believe  too  little,"  generally 


THE    MANNER    OF    PRAISE.  87 

follows  the  rejection  of  the  Psalms,  as  in  their  esti- 
mation Jewish,  antiquated,  cursing,  and  unsuitable 
to  Christian  worship.  Here  extremes  meet,  and  the 
organ  becomes  an  object  of  vast  importance,  both 
in  their  estimation,  and  in  that  of  those  who  "  be- 
lieve too  much." 

While  many  who  employ  it  consider  themselves 
the  very  champions  of  Protestantism,  it  will  be 
long,  long  indeed,  before  they  uproot  Popery  by 
this  regulator  of  choirs  ;  and  while  nothing  has  ever 
proved  more  annoying  to  Papists  than  the  singing 
of  Psalms  in  a  congregational  manner,  the  playing 
of  all  the  heretical  organs  in  Christendom  causes 
to  them  comparatively  little  sorrow. 

On  the  contrary,  the  cross  surmounting  a  Protes- 
tant meeting  house,  and  the  swelling  tones  of  the 
organ  within,  give  to  her  sons  the  hope  that  "  holy 
mother  "  may  yet  receive  these  errorists,  who  are,  at 
least,  so  far  rejoicing  under  her  shadow,  and  be- 
coming familiar  with  her  "  image  and  superscrip- 
tion." 

It  "is  a  lamentation,  and  for  a  lamentation,"  that 
leaving  the  will  of  God  revealed  in  his  word,  and 
following  "the  customs  of  the  churches,"  modern 
Congregationalists  should  banish  congregational 
singing,  and  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit,  not  only  by 
supplanting  "  the  word  of  Christ "  with  the  effu- 
sions of  unsanctified  genius,  but  by  stopping  the 
mouths  and  silencing  the  voices  of  a  worshipping 
assembly,  who  must  arise,  face  about  to,  and  hear 


88  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  choir  "  chanting  away  to  the  praise  and  glory 
of  themselves."  * 

Many  pious  and  discerning  minds  see  this,  and 
the  editor  of  the  Connecticut  Courant  has  ex- 
pressed the  sentiments  of  many  people  in  the  fol- 
lowing article :  — 

"  Church  Music  —  We  are  sadly  afraid  that  the 
true  design  of  psalmody  will  be  forgotten  by  our 
congregations  in  their  exceedingly  powerful  desire 
for  scientific  display.  According  to  our  old-fash- 
ioned ideas,  psalm  singing  in  church  is  a  part  of 
divine  worship,  not  a  means  of  exhibiting  skill  in 
Italian  warblings.  In  former  times,  (  Let  us  sing  to 
the  praise  and  glory  of  God,'  was  the  pious  adjura- 
tion at  the  reading  of  the  hymn.  Now,  it  should 
rather  be,  '  Let  us  sing  to  the  glorification  of  Mr. 
A.,  the  organist,  or  Miss  B.,  the  soprano,  or  Miss  C, 
the  second,  or  Mr.  D.,  the  basso.' 

"  Such  displays  of  skill  in  composition  and  exe- 

*  Besides  all  this,  there  is  the  profaning  of  the  Sabbath  by  secular 
labor ;  if  not  by  the  paid  performers,  at  least  by  him  who  works  the 
bellows  of  the  organ,  who  performs  common  labor  on  the  Lord's  day 
for  a  price,  and  obviously  can  have  no  part  (excepting  by  proxy)  in  the 
results  of  the  joint  performance  of  himself  and  others.  Sentimental- 
ists, whether  Episcopalians  or  Congregationalists,  will  all  laugh  at  this, 
yet  they  must  know  that  this  necessary  profanation  of  the  Sabbath,  by 
mere  animal  labor,  has,  in  part  at  least,  prevented  the  introduction  of 
the  organ  into  the  modern  Jewish  synagogues.  They  would  not  hire 
a  man  to  labor  at  the  bellows  on  their  Sabbath  day  as  an  act  of  worship 
to  God.  Among  Christians,  this  labor  can  be  performed,  or  paid  for, 
only  by  those  who  believe  too  much,  or  by  those  who  believe  too  little. 
All  others  view  it,  even  in  its  best  aspect,  as  **  doing  evil  that  good 
may  come." 


THE    MANNER    OF    PRAISE.  89 

cution  we  look  for  in  a  concert.  Is  the  worship  of 
the  holy  God  to  be  mingled  with  the  feeling  of  ad- 
miration at  artistic  skill  ?  We  know  of  several 
tunes  employed  in  our  churches,  purposely  so  con- 
structed as  to  exhibit  the  exquisite  skill  of  the 
singer,  and  the  exceeding  flexibility  of  her  voice. 
As  the  ear  is  delighted  by  the  graceful  slide  of  her 
voice  through  the  distinct  tones  of  the  modulation, 
we  are  almost  ready  to  shout  out,  '•Encore?  We  for- 
get at  once  the  words,  the  purpose  of  the  song,  the 
place,  the  time.  God  and  his  worship  fades  from 
the  thought,  and  with  a  long-drawn  breath  at  its 
conclusion,  we  whisper  to  ourselves,  '  How  beauti- 
ful!'    Is  this  devotion?" 

Again :  "  A  correspondent  of  the  Knickerbocker 
lately  attended '  meeting'  on  the  Sabbath,  at  a  village 
in  Connecticut.  He  was  especially  charmed  with 
the  singing  of  the  hymn  commencing  with  the  fol- 
lowing verse :  — 

"  As  when  a  raging  fever  burns, 
We  shift  from  side  to  side  by  turns ; 
And  'tis  a  poor  relief  we  gain, 
To  change  the  place,  but  keep  the  pain." 

"  He  says,  '  The  singing  was  very  fine  ;  the  enun- 
ciation was  distinct;  the  treble  beautifully  clear, 
and  the  bass  heavy.  It  was  one  of  the  old 
fuguing  tunes  that  I  always  fancied.  It  ran  as 
follows :  — 

8* 


90  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


'  As  when  a-ra — a-ra — a  ra — 
As  when-a-ra — 
Gin-fe-ver  burns, 

Gin-fe-ver  burns, 
As  when  a  ra — a  ra — 

Gin-fe-ver  burns.'  "  * 

In  that  oldest  and  most  important  social  institu- 
tion, the  family,  Presbyterians  have  considered  it 
both  their  duty  and  their  privilege  "  to  show  forth 
the  loving  kindness  of  God  in  the  morning,  and  his 
faithfulness  every  night." 

The  scriptural  manner  in  which  they  perform 
this  duty  is  thus  described  by  the  poet  in  his  "  Cot- 
ter's Saturday  Night,"  and  forms  one  of  the  most 
ennobling  pictures  of  human  happiness  :  — 

"  The  cheerfu'  supper  done,  wi'  serious  face, 
They,  round  the  ingle,  form  a  circle  wide ; 
The  sire  turns  o'er,  wi'  patriarchal  grace, 

The  big  ha'  Bible,  ance  his  father's  pride  ; 
His  bonnet  rev'rently  is  laid  aside, 

His  lyart  haffets  wearing  thin  an'  bare  ; 
Those  strains  that  once  did  sweet  in  Zion  glide, 
He  wales  a  portion  with  judicious  care  ; 
And  '  Let  us  worship  God  ! '  he  says,  with  solemn  air. 

They  chant  then-  artless  notes  in  simple  guise  ; 

They  tune  their  hearts,  by  far  the  noblest  aim : 
Perhaps  Dundee's  wild  warbling  measures  rise, 

Or  plaintive  Martyrs,  worthy  of  the  name ; 

*  The  late  Sears  C.  Walker,  in  company  with  Dungleson  and 
Bache  of  the  coast  survey,  speaking  of  New  England  psalmody, 
"  Countless  seraphs  bow  before  thy  throne," 

Countless  ser — ar — aphs,  countless  ser — ar — er — er — aphs, 

Bow — wow — wow  before,  &c. 
observed,  "  I  never  heard  that  before.    It  must  be  one  of  the  dogmas 
of  the  church."     "  Yes,"  said  Bache,  "  it  is  in  that  category." 


THE    MANNER   OF    PRAISE.  91 

Or  noble  Elgin  beats  the  heav'nward  flame, 

The  sweetest  far  of  Scotia's  holy  lays  : 
Compared  with  these,  Italian  trills  are  tame  ; 
The  tickl'd  ears  no  heart-felt  raptures  raise : 
Nae  unison  hae  they  with  our  Creator's  praise. 

The  priest-like  father  reads  the  sacred  page, 

How  Abram  was  the  friend  of  God  on  high  ; 
Or  Moses  bade  eternal  warfare  wage 

"With  Amalek's  ungracious  progeny  ; 
Or  how  the  royal  bard  did  groaning  lie 

Beneath  the  stroke  of  Heav'n's  avenging  ire ; 
Or  Job's  pathetic  plaint,  and  wailing  cry; 

Or  rapt  Isaiah's  wild,  seraphic  fire  ; 
Or  other  holy  seers  that  tune  the  sacred  lyre. 

Perhaps  the  Christian  volume  is  the  theme, 

How  guiltless  blood  for  guilty  man  was  shed  ; 
How  He,  who  bore  in  heaven  the  second  name, 

Had  not  on  earth  whereon  to  lay  his  head ; 
How  his  first  followers  and  servants  sped  ; 

The  precepts  sage  they  wrote  to  many  a  land : 
How  he,  who  lone  in  Patmos  banished, 

Saw  in  the  sun  a  mighty  angel  stand  ; 
And    heard    great    Bab'lon's  doom    pronounc'd  by   Heav'n's 
command. 

Then  kneeling  down,  to  heaven's  Eternal  King, 

The  saint,  the  father,  and  the  husband  prays  : 
Hope  '  springs  exulting  on  triumphant  wing,'  * 

That  thus  they  all  shall  meet  in  future  days ; 
There  ever  bask  in  uncreated  rays, 

No  more  to  sigh,  or  shed  the  bitter  tear, 
Together  hymning  their  Creator's  praise,  , 

In  such  societ}',  yet  still  more  dear  ; 
"While  circling  time  moves  round  in  an  eternal  sphere. 

Compar'd  with  this,  how  poor  Religion's  pride, 

In  all  the  pomp  of  method,  and  of  art, 
When  men  display  to  congregations  wide, 

Devotion's  ev'ry  grace,  except  the  heart! 

*  Pope's  Windsor  Forest. 


92  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

The  Poxc'r,  incens'd,  the  pageant  will  desert, 

The  pompous  strain,  the  sacerdotal  stole  ; 
But  haply,  in  some  cottage  far  apart, 

May  hear,  well  pleas'd,  the  language  of  the  soul ; 
And  in  his  book  of  life  the  inmates  poor  enroll." 

The  scene  thus  graphically  described  is  now  al- 
most wholly  Presbyterian.  Where  men  delight  in 
the  performance  of  a  choir,  even  when  they  have 
professedly  "  a  church  in  their  house,"  so  highly 
is  the  public  service  exalted  above  private  worship, 
that  they  seldom  "  sing  Psalms."  Episcopalians 
may,  and  many  of  them  do,  employ  a  form  of 
prayer  appropriate  for  those  who  cannot  pray  with- 
out book,  and  read  the  Scriptures  morning  and 
evening;  but  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  they  seldom 
give  to  God  "  the  fruit  of  their  lips,  in  giving  thanks 
unto  his  name,"  with  Psalms,  in  their  families. 

Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who*  "believe  too 
little,"  while  they  multiply  sectarian  hymn  books, 
have  not  yet  presented,  and  never  can,  a  single  col- 
lection which  will  to  perfection  display  the  dealings 
of  God  with  a  pious  family  in  all  the  varied  vicis- 
situdes of  life. 

As  they  reject  the  "  songs  of  Zion,"  so  they  soon 
find  that  in  an  imperative  duty  and  leading  em- 
ployment, nay,  in  the  most  precious  privilege  of 
the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  that  is 
singing  the  praises  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,  they 
cannot  perpetually  join  in  the  domestic  circle.  Eph. 
iii.  15 ;  Jas.  v.  13. 


THE    MANNER    OF    PRAISE.  93 

The  religion  of  any  church  is  simply  an  aggre- 
gation of  the  worship  of  the  families  which  com- 
pose it,  and  where  the  morning  and  evening  song 
to  Jehovah  are  neglected  by  the  latter,  the  highest 
attainments  of  artistic  skill  weekly,  on  the  part  of 
the  former,  cannot  compensate  at  all  for  the  loss. 

God  is  then  robbed,  and  the  blessing  is  conse- 
quently withheld.  Few,  if  any,  associations  are 
more  undying  in  the  breasts  of  persons  who  have 
been  favored  in  youth  with  pious,  parental,  presby- 
terial  instruction,  than  those  which  in  the  memory 
and  imagination  cluster  around  the  parental  hearth 
at  the  hours  of  morning  and  evening  worship,  when 
parents  and  children,  brothers  and  sisters,  made  "  a 
joyful  noise  unto  the  Lord  with  the  voice  of  a 
Psalm."  *  The  time  was,  when  "  in  pious  families  in 
New  England  two  Psalms  were  sung  every  day  in 
the  week,  and  not  less  than  eight  upon  the  Lord's 

*  To  the  truth  of  this  the  experience  of  many  will  testify.  Among 
the  earlier  adventurers  to  the  mountains  of  California  was  a  Scotch- 
man, who  there  lost  his  Bible.  His  anxiety  now  became  great,  and  he 
wrote  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  W.,  of_San  Francisco,  (a  Presbyterian  clergyman,) 
for  relief.  "  Send,"  says  he,  "  to  me  a  Bible,  but  especially  the  Scotch 
Psalms  of  David.  Before  I  lost  my  copy,  recollection  and  imagination 
could  morning  and  evening  place  me  beneath  my  parental  roof  at  the 
hours  of  worship,  and  I  could  almost  select  the  very  psalm,  and  por- 
tion, and  tune  which  father,  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters  were  then 
singing,  as  we  were  wont  in  by-gone  days  of  domestic  bliss.  Without 
my  Bible  the  charm  is  broken.  Send  me  one  as  early  as  possible,  but 
especially  send  me  a  copy  of  the  Scotch  Psalms  of  David."  Among  a 
family  thus  trained  to  the  songs  of  Zion, 

"  Time  but  the  impression  deeper  makes, 
As  streams  their  channels  deeper  wear." 


94  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

day,  thus  repeating  each  Psalm  not  less  than  six 
times  a  year."  *  Whether  the  modern  custom, 
which  in  some  places  is  springing  into  use  among 
the  churches,  of  individuals  promiscuously  assem- 
bling at  an  early  stated  hour  in  some  holy  place  for 
public  prayer,  is,  or  is  not,  merely  a  compensatory 
sacrifice  for  the  neglect  of  "  showing  forth  the  lov- 
ing kindness  of  God  in  the  morning,  in  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  righteous,"  I  know  not.  If  it  be  in 
any  case,  or  to  any  extent,  such,  it  has  at  least  a 
shadow  of  affinity  to  that  item  of  will  worship  by 
which  "  holy  mother  "  supersedes  the  soul-ennobling 
exercises  of  family  devotion  by  her  matins,  before 
a  holy  man  at  the  confessional.  "  Coming  events 
cast  their  shadows  before,"  and  extremes  some- 
times meet.  Unpleasant  as  it  is  to  say  that  "  the 
former  days  were  better  than  these,"  I  cannot  avoid 
this  conclusion  when  I  survey  the  land  of  the  Puri- 
tans, and  contrast  their  solemn,  heartfelt,  constant 
piety,  (although  "  the  number  of  their  psalm  tunes 
for  a  century  rarely  exceeded  five  or  six,"  f)  with 
the  ephemeral  types  of  Christianity,  which  are  at 
present  (at  least  too  often)  produced  among  their 
descendants,  not  only  by  the  metaphysical  disquisi- 
tion, and  the  protracted  meeting,  but  also  by  the 
vapid  hymn,  the  sentimental  tune,  and  the  orches- 
tra in  their  public  assemblies,  in  connection  with  the 
disastrous  consequences  of  excluding  "  the  voice  of 

*  Hood,  p.  78.  t  lb.  p.  52. 


THE    MANNER    OF    PRAISE.  95 

rejoicing  and  salvation  "  from  "  the  tabernacles  of 
the  righteous." 

Thus  each  form  of  ecclesiastical  government  not 
only  adopts,  by  specific  choice,  the  matter  of  praise 
which  those  who  are  under  it  offer  to  Jehovah,  but 
it  has  also  a  corresponding  and  peculiar  influence 
on  the  manner  of  the  performance  of  tins  duty,  both 
in  public  and  private  worship.* 

*  A  writer  in  the  Boston  Congregationalist  of  March  31,  1854, 
divides  "  psalms,  Irymns,  and  spiritual  songs  "  thus  :  1st.  Adorative 
pieces,  the  Deity  being  the  person  spoken  to ;  as, — 

"  When  all  thy  mercies,  0  my  God, 
My  rising  soul  surveys, 
Transported  with  the  view,  I'm  lost 
In  wonder,  love,  and  praise."  —  Addison. 

2d.  Devotional  pieces,  not  addressed  to  Deity,  felt  by  ourself,  the 
person  speaking;  as, — 

"  I'm  not  ashamed  to  own  my  Lord, 
Or  to  defend  his  cause, 
Maintain  the  honor  of  his  word, 
The  glory  of  his  cross."  —  Watts. 

3d.  Spiritual  songs  of  sentiment,  neither  addressed  to  Defty  nor 
speaking  ourself,  but  expressing  a  tender  interest  concerning  our  fel- 
low-creatures, and  matters  of  truth,  the  persons  and  things  spokenabout. 
1st.  Instructive  pieces,  "  teaching;  "  as,  — 

"  Deep  are  the  wounds  which  sin  has  made  — 
Where  shall  the  sinner  find  a  cure  ? 
In  vain,  alas !  is  Nature's  aid  ; 
The  work  exceeds  her  utmost  power."  — Steele. 

2d.  Persuasive  pieces,  "  admonishing  ;  "  as, — 

"  Come,  weary  souls,  with  sin  oppressed, 
O,  come,  accept  the  promised  rest ; 
The  Savior's  gracious  call  obey, 
And  cast  your  gloomy  fears  away." 


96  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

The  pieces  unsuitable  for  singing,  even  though  otherwise  good,  are,  — 

4th.   Unpathetic  pieces,  including  every  thing  not  classified  above,  and 

are  calculated  to  cool  rather  than  excite  an  interest ;  as,  1st.,  Dogmatic 

pieces,  expressing  doctrines  in  a  form  too  rigid  and  emotionless  ;  as,  — 

"  Fools  in  their  hearts  believe  and  say, 
That  all  religion's  vain  ; 
There  is  no  God  that  reigns  on  high, 

Or  minds  the  affairs  of  men."  —  Watts,  Ps.  xiv. 

2d.  Caustic  pieces,  too  harsh  and  severe  for  a  kind  musical  expres- 
sion, and  rejected  from  the  persuasive  list ;  as,  — 

"  Vile  wretches  dare  rehearse  his  name 
With  lips  of  falsehood  and  deceit ; 
A  friend  or  brother  they  defame, 
And  soothe  and  flatter  those  they  hate." 

Watts,  Ps.  1. 

"Hence,"  says  he,  "1st,  sacred  music  is  not  always  and  only  a  matter 
of  worship.  It  expresses  worship,  experience,  and  sentiment.  Psalms 
harmonize  with  our  prayers,  hymns  with  our  devout  Scripture  read- 
ings, and  spiritual  songs  with  our  preaching. 

"  2d.  A  faulty  hymn  is  such  not  on  account  of  its  subject,  but  on  ac- 
count of  its  style. 

"  3d.  We  must  keep  each  order  of  sacred  lyrics  by  itself,  and  not  con- 
found them  promiscuously  in  our  religious  exercises.  The  first  half 
of  the  Sabbath  services  is  designed  principally,  I  suppose,  for  worship 
and  devotion,  the  last  half  for  '  talking  and  admonishing.'  Accord- 
ingly, the  writer  is  accustomed  to  open  the  service  of  the  sanctuary 
withV  psalm  of  worship,  to  follow  this  with  a  hymn  of  devotion,  and 
to  close  with  some  short  spiritual  song.  This  last  singing  he  does  not 
use  as  an  act  of  worship  or  devotion  distinctively,  but  as  an  act  of  sym- 
pathetic impression,  the  ?-espo)ise  of  the  people." 

Truly  "knowledge  shall  be  increased"!  Who  ever  before  knew 
that  the  inspired  apostle  directed  the  Christians  in  Ephesus  and 
Colosse  to  sing  the  poetical  effusions  of  Addison,  Watts,  and  Steele  ? 
Perhaps,  when  Paul  took  his  "journey  into  Spain,"  some  owner  of  a 
ship  of  Tarshish,  (Tartessus,)  after  the  manner  of  our  modern  Vander- 
bilts  and  "North  Stars,"  took  this  clerical  tourist  into  Britannia 
Prima,  (South  Britain,)  and  gave  him  an  introduction  to  these  gentle- 
men.   Who  knows  ?    Matt.  vi.  23. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

OX  THE   SACRAMENTS. 

Ix  the  application  of  my  principle,  I  now  pro- 
ceed to  consider  the  influences  which  either  form  of 
church  government  has  upon  the  dispensation  of 
the  sacraments  of  the  New  Testament. 

That  they  "  become  effectual  means  of  salvation, 
not  from  any  virtue  in  them,  or  in  him  that  doth 
administer  them,  but  only  by  the  blessing  of  Christ, 
and  the  working  of  his  Spirit  in  them  that  by  faith 
receive  them,"  is  the  simple  belief  of  Presbyterians 
and  of  some  Congregationalists,  such  as  "  the 
Orthodox,"  in  relation  to  them. 

Baptism.  —  Baptism  is  a  washing  with  water  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  doth  signify  and  seal  our  ingrafting 
into  Christ,  &c,  ccc.  This  admission  into  fellow- 
ship with  water,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  appointed,  not  only  as 
a  lively  representation  of  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  upon  the  conscience  by  the  Spirit 
in  regeneration,  according  to  the  arrangements  of 
the  covenant  of  grace,  and  not  only  is  it  a  token 
of  the  guardian  care  of  the  Shepherd  of  Israel  over 
9  TO 


98  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

his  sheep  when  the  angel  of  death  is  abroad;  but 
it  is  also  designed  to  draw  a  line  of  separation 
around  the  whole  household  of  faith,  by  which  they 
shall  not  only  be  shut  up  unto  God,  but  also  be 
separated  from  a  surrounding  ungodly  world.  For 
the  whole  elect  there  is  but  "  one  baptism,"  as  over 
them  there  is  but  "  one  Lord,"  and  in  them  there  is 
but  "  one  faith."  When  united  to  Christ  by  faith  in 
effectual  calling,  they  are  baptized  with  that  one 
baptism  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  they  are  admitted 
into  fellowship  with  the  Father  and  his  Son,  Jesus 
Christ,  forever,  through  the  Comforter,  by  whom 
henceforth  their  lives  are  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

As  the  Redeemer,  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  when 
he  should  have  fulfilled  all  righteousness,  and  have 
become  obedient  unto  death,  was  to  see  of  the 
travail  of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied,  or,  as  the  Spirit 
of  truth  has  elsewhere  expressed  it,  "  so  shall  he 
sprinkle  many  nations,"  so  we  consequently  find 
that,  when  about  to  enter  heaven  in  our  nature  and 
in  our  name,  he  gave  power  and  command  to  his 
apostles  and  other  ministering  servants  to  go  and 
make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them,  or  ad- 
mitting them  into  fellowship,  with  water,  in  the  name 
of  the  triune  Jehovah. 

When  they  went  forth  from  Jerusalem  preaching 
the  word  of  life  to  the  Jews,  which  they  did  to  them 
exclusively  for  about  ten  years,  by  their  instru- 
mentality "the  Lord  added  to  the  church  daily 
such  as  should  be  saved,"  to  whom  was  fulfilled, 


BAPTISM.  99 

spiritually  and  literally,  the  promise  by  Ezekiel,  "  I 
will  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be 
clean." 

In  the  view  of  Presbyterians,  this  ordinance  can 
be  dispensed  only  "  by  a  minister  of  the  gospel, 
lawfully  called  thereunto ; "  that  "  dipping  of  the  per- 
son into  the  water  is  not  necessary ;  but  baptism  is 
rightly  administered  by  pouring  or  sprinkling  water 
upon  the  person  ; "  and  that  "  not  only  those  that 
do  actually  profess  fai!h  in,  and  obedience  unto, 
Christ,  but  also  the  infants  of  one  or  of  both  be- 
lieving parents,  are  to  be  baptized,"  or  admitted 
into  fellowship  as  the  lambs  of  the  flock. 

By  their  birth  God  declares  them  holy,  (1  Cor. 
vii.  14 ;)  requires  that  they  be  brought  unto  him, 
and  be  "  trained  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord."  Into  this  "  nurture,"  nothing  but  his 
sovereign  choice  and  divine  providence  can  bring 
them.  Into  it  he  brings  them  at  their  natural  birth, 
and  in  it  nothing  but  a  living  faith  in  "  the  seed  of 
Abraham,"  by  which  "the  blessing  of  Abraham 
comes  upon  the  Gentiles,"  can  train  them  up. 
"All  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in 
him ;  for  I  know  him,  that  he  will  command  his 
children  and  his  household  after  him,  and  they  shall 
keep  the  way  of  the  Lord." 

This  is  done  by  the  arrangements  of  that  "  cove- 
nant that  was  confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ, 
which  the  law,  that  was  four  hundred  and  thirty 
years    after,  could   not    disannul,   that    it    should 


100  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

make  the  promise  of  none  effect."  God  gave  the 
inheritance  of  the  privileges  of  the  church  of  Christ 
to  Abraham  by  promise ;  the  blessing  of  Abraham 
comes  upon  those  who  were  aliens  from  the  com- 
monwealth of  Israel;  and  if  we  be  Christ's,  we  are 
then  his  seed,  and  heirs  of  God  according  to  the 
promise.  "  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed 
after  thee,  and  I  will  establish  my  covenant  between 
me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their  gen- 
erations, for  an  everlastiitg  covenant."  Nineteen 
hundred  and  thirty  years  afterwards,  the  declaration 
of  the  God  of  truth  to  those  who  had  imprecated 
the  blood  of  Emanuel  upon  their  unconscious  off- 
spring, when  now  themselves  "  come  to  the  blood 
of  sprinkling,"  was,  "  The  promise  is  unto  you  and 
to  your  children."  Your  faith  in  Christ  instru- 
mentally  removes  the  curse  from  both  yourselves 
and  them  —  from  you  in  reality,  from  them  fed- 
erally. 

Where  men  believe  in  the  exclusive  powers  of 
prelacy,  as  confined  to  the  successors  of  St.  Peter, 
and  deny  that  the  power  of  ordination  and  of  rule 
was  given  equally  to  the  other  apostles,  some  varia- 
tions from  the  simple  scriptural  order  of  Presbyte- 
rians exist. 

The  latter,  as  we  have  seen,  draw  the  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  those  who  by  birth  are  holy,  and 
those  who  by  it  are  unclean.  (1  Cor.  vii.  14.) 
Episcopalians  say  that  "the  baptism  of  young 
children"  (no  such  distinction  as  the  above  being 


BAPTISM.  101 

made)  "  is  in  any  wise  to  be  retained  in  the  church 
as  most  agreeable  with  the  institution  of  Christ." 

Presbyterians  maintain  that  the  believing  parent 
conveys  federal  and  covenant  privilege  to  his  or  her 
child,  and  is  the  only  proper  person  to  undertake  in 
the  baptism  and  the  nurture  of  it  in  the  Lord ;  while 
believing  too  much,  Prelatists  provide  for  it  a  god- 
father and  a  godmother,  who  too  often  manifest  by 
their  lives  that  they  are  "  far  off  from  righteous- 
ness," and  "  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than  lovers  of 
God." 

By  them  baptism  is  also  considered  to  be  "  a  sign 
of  regeneration,  or  new  birth,  whereby,  as  by  an  in- 
strument, they  that  receive  baptism  rightly  are 
grafted  into  the  church."  The  one  views  the  child 
of  a  believing  parent  as  relatively,  or  federally,  holy ; 
and  by  being  born  within  the  pale  of  the  visible 
church,  it  is  by  its  birth  entitled  to  be  by  baptism 
publicly  recognized  as  a  member,  a  lamb  of  the 
flock ;  while  the  others  thus  teach,  that  "  as  by  an 
instrument  they  that  receive  baptism  rightly  are 
grafted  into  the  church,"  and  that  to  such  it  is  "  a 
sign  of  regeneration  or  new  birth."  The  one  then 
baptizes  a  child  because  one  of  its  parents  is  a 
public  follower  of  Christ,  or  both  of  them  are  pro- 
fessing believers  on  the  Lord  Jesus,  and,  in  the 
judgment  of  charity,  in  union  with  him  in  the  visi- 
ble church.  The  other  baptizes,  not  because  the 
parent  is  supposed  to  be  a  living  member  of  Christ, 
but  because  the  children  are  "  young ; "  and  al- 
9* 


102  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

though  wild  olive  plants  by  nature,  they  are  by 
baptism  grafted  into  a  new  stock.  The  one  pub- 
licly acknowledges  a  right  and  privilege  previously 
existing,  the  other  grafts  into  the  church  by  baptism 
received  rightly,  as  by  an  instrument.  Here  there 
exists  too  much  faith. 

"While  Episcopal  Methodists  believe  that  "  all 
children  are  born  in  a  justified  state,  and  continue 
so  until  they  come  to  the  years  of  understanding, 
and  cross  the  line  of  accountability,"  (as  I  have 
heard  one  of  their  preachers  at  the  funeral  of  a 
child  declare,)  they  are,  if  this  opinion  can  be  sus- 
tained, justified  in  baptizing  all  children,  and  (with 
their  founder)  in  "  withholding  baptism  from  none." 
These  opinions,  however,  display  a  faith  more 
ample  than  is  warranted  by  the  divine  word.  They 
believe  in  part  human  authority,  while  "  without 
faith,"  resting  exclusively  on  scriptural  testimony, 
"  it  is  impossible  to  please  God." 

That  their  prelatic  pretensions  mould  baptism 
among  Papists,  is  obvious  to  all  Protestants.  The 
use  of  chrism,  spittle,  and  such  ingredients,  applied 
in  the  form  of  a  cross,  with  a  little  jargon,  has 
never  yet  been  discovered  among  those  who  believe 
in  Presbytery  as  the  order  of  rule  in  Christ's  house, 
and  it  is  unknown  under  the  Congregational 
regimen. 

In  surveying  the  views  and  practices  of  some 
Congregational  sects,  in  relation  to  the  subjects  of 
this  ordinance,  a  wide  field  opens  before  us.     While 


BAPTISM.  103 

the  Independents  in  England  and  the  Orthodox  in 
America  usually  imitate  the  Presbyterians,  and 
baptize  on  the  profession  of  either  personal  or  pa- 
rental faith,  multitudes  of  those  who  believe  that 
"  all  power  resides  in  the  church  by  virtue  of  the 
compact  of  its  members,"  withhold  baptism  from 
all  children,  from  those  whom  God  declares  (1  Cor. 
vii.  14)  to  be  "  holy,"  as  well  as  from  heathen. 
Believing'  too  little,  they  want  express  testimony  in 
the  words  of  Scripture  for  the  baptism  of  infants. 

In  justice  to  such  a  demand,  the  Seventh  Day 
Baptists  refuse  to  give  the  shadow  of  honor  to 
the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  of  glory,  and  observe 
that  day,  which,  in  the  separation  of  soul  and  body, 
bis  spirit  spent  in  the  invisible  world,  that  "  hour  " 
of  his  enemies,  and  the  day  of  "  the  power  of  dark- 
ness." They  celebrate  weekly  the  season  of  guard- 
ing his  tomb  by  the  Roman  soldiers,  and  desecrate, 
for  the  pretended  want  of  scriptural  authority,  the 
weekly  return  of  that  day  of  joy,  not  only  to  the 
women  who  visited  early  his  sepulchre,  not  only 
to  the  disciples  who  were  permitted  on  it  to  hail 
their  risen  Lord,  but  that  day  of  joy  also  to  the 
angels  of  God,  who,  worshipping  him  as  his  will- 
ing subjects,  exclaimed  in  accents  of  rapture,  "  He 
is  risen,  he  is  risen."  Nay,  they  desecrate  weekly 
the  return  of  that  day  on  which  God  declared  that 
his  justice  was  perfectly  satisfied ;  that  "  the  Lord 
was  well  pleased  for  his  righteousness'  sake,"  and 
in  proof  of  which,  he  was,  as  to  his  human  nature, 


104  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

raised  from  the  dead  by  the  authority  of  the  Father, 
and  declared,  in  the  union  of  his  natures  and  the 
glory  of  his  person,  to  be  eternally  the  Son  of  God 
with  power. 

In  honor  to  consistency,  all  other  Baptists  should 
with  them  deny  the  change  of  the  Sabbath  from 
the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  all  who 
make  the  above  demand  for  express  testimony  can- 
not lay  claim  to  this  valuable  ingredient  of  charac- 
ter, if  they  ever  allow  any  female,  no  matter  how 
obviously  and  how  decidedly  "  a  daughter  of  Abra- 
ham," to  partake  of  the  Lord's  supper.  No  express 
testimony  can  in  either  case  be  produced  from  the 
Bible.  Still  the  Sabbath- has  been  changed;  pious 
women  are  solemnly  bound,  by  the  love  of  Christ, 
to  show  forth  the  Lord's  death  until  he  come ;  and 
"the  infants  of  such  as  are  members  of  the  visible 
church  are  to  be  baptized." 

This  was  the  practice  of  the  church  universal  for 
above  one  thousand  years,  according  to  Wall,  who 
affirms  that  "  about  1130  a  sect  arose  among  the 
Waldenses,  which  declared  against  the  baptism  of 
infants,  as  being  incapable  of  salvation;  nor  was 
there  any  more  heard  of  that  tenet  till  the  rising 
of  the  German  Anabaptists,  anno  1522."  This 
"  tenet,"  the  denial  of  baptism  to  the  children  of 
professing  Christian  parents,  in  America,  was  first 
avowed  by  the  formation  of  a  church  on  Congre- 
gational principles  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in 
1639,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Rev.  Roger  Wil- 


BAPTISM.  105 

liams,  and  notwithstanding  its  vast  spread,  this 
"  tenet "  has  never  been  admitted  by  either  Episco- 
palians or  Presbyterians.  It  is  maintained  and 
practised  only  by  a  part  of  those  who  believe  too 
little. 

We  thus  see  that  either  chosen  form  of  church 
government  which  an  individual  may  adopt  will 
regulate  his  belief  in  relation  to  the  subjects  of 
Christian  baptism ;  and  I  now  proceed  to  consider 
its  influences  in  determining  the  mode  in  which 
this  ordinance  ought  to  be  administered.  The  sim- 
ple scriptural  manner  of  administering  this  ordi- 
nance among  Presbyterians  has  been  already  shown, 
and  here  we  have  conflicting  usages,  both  among 
Prelatists  and  Congregationalists. 

While  the  Papal  church  applies  a  little  moisture, 
chrism,  and  spittle  to  the  subject  in  the  form  of  a 
cross,  the  Greek  church,  which  separated  from  the 
Roman  about  A,  D.  1054,  performs  baptism  by  a 
trinal  immersion  of  children.  Protestant  Episcopa- 
lians baptize  by  dipping  the  child  if  it  be  healthy, 
or  by  sprinkling  it  if  it  be  feeble ;  and  Methodists 
generally  will  either  immerse  or  sprinkle,  as  the 
wishes  of  the  subject  or  parent  may  dictate. 

Those  portions  of  the  Christian  church,  built  upon 
the  social  compact,  which  arrogate  to  themselves 
the  name  of  Baptists,  ought,  if  objects  and  sects 
were  designated  by  their  appropriate  names,  to  be 
called  the  Immersing  Congregationalists,  as  a  total 
immersion  of  the  body  is,  in  their  estimation,  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  the  validity  of  the  ordinance. 


106  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "  in  the  days  of  his  flesh," 
both  submitted  to  receive  this  ordinance  at  the 
hand  of  his  servant,  and  also  joined  with  his  fore- 
runner in  dispensing,  by  the  command  of  God  and 
in  his  name  alone,  "the  baptism  of  repentance;" 
yet  the  baptism  of  John  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  Christian  baptism.  This  latter  ordinance  was 
appointed  by  our  Savior  personally,  after  he  was 
made  "  perfect  through  sufferings,"  "  and  declared 
to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power."  As  the  Head 
of  the  church,  he  instituted  it,  not  saying,  "  He  that 
sent  me  to  baptize  with  water,"  but  "  All  power  is 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth;  go  ye  there- 
fore and  teach"  (or  disciple)  "all  nations, baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  We  have  already  seen 
how  "  the  blood  of  the  covenant  wherewith  he  was 
sanctified  "  was,  is,  and  eternally  will  be,  "  the  blood 
of  sprinkling;"  consequently  where  the  absolute 
authority  of  the  word  of  God  is  regarded,  and  its 
whole  contents  are  believed,  his  blood  can  neither 
become,  nor  be  called,  the  blood  of  immersing,  the 
blood  of  dipping,  nor  the  blood  of  plunging. 

Disregarding  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in 
reference  to  that  "  covenant  which  was  confirmed 
of  God  in  Christ,"  they  strive  to  make  it  refer  to  a 
promise  of  a  mere  temporal  inheritance  on  the 
earth,  and,  with  a  disrespect  to  divine  authority 
equally  unwarrantable  and  dangerous,  they  direct 
our  attention,  as  conclusive   proof  that  baptism 


BAPTISM.  107 

must  at  all  times  be  dispensed  by  a  total  immer- 
sion of  the  subject,  to  the  facts  that  John,  the 
forerunner,  baptized  at  Jordan  and  at  Enon  ; 
that  Lydia  was  baptized  beside  a  river;  that  the 
jailor  might  have  had  a  cistern  in  or  near  the  prison 
at  Philippi;  that  the  desert  of  Gaza  afforded  an 
ample  pool  for  the  immersion  of  the  treasurer  of 
the  Ethiopian  queen  and  Philip  at  the  same  time, 
for  "  they  went  down  both  of  them  into  the  water ; " 
that  Saul  of  Tarsus,  when  weakened  by  the  over- 
whelming presence  of  the  Lord  of  glory,  and  by 
the  loss  of  nourishment  for  three  days  and  three 
nights,  must  have  been  dipped  under  the  water  in 
one  of  the  "  rivers  of  Damascus ; "  that  while  the 
Lord  added  these  and  thousands  of  other  trophies 
of  his  grace  to  his  church  during  the  ministry  of 
the  inspired  apostles,  and  while  he  had  promised 
to  do  so,  none  of  them  were  ever  "  sprinkled  "  with 
"clean  water;"  and  not  only  so,  but  when  the 
apostles  "  turned  the  world  upside  down,"  still  the 
Master  whom  they  served  never  "  sprinkled  many 
nations,"  nor  did  he  sprinkle,  nor  design  to  sprinkle, 
any  human  being. 

If  this  could  by  any  possibility  be  shown,  it 
would  doubtless  make  the  promise  of  the  God  of 
truth  (Is.  lii.  15)  "of  none  effect"  — "So  shall  he 
sprinkle  many  nations."  John  did  indeed  baptize  at 
and  in  Jordan,  between  its  banks,  (Matt.  iii.  13,)  and 
in,  but  not  under  Enon,  because  there  were  many 
waters,  springs,  (Stara  mXka,)  or  rivulets  there,  which 


108  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

quantity  of  water  was  necessary  for  the  cleansing 
and  support  of  "  all  the  land  of  Judea,  and  all 
Jerusalem,  and  all  the  region  round  about  Jordan  ;" 
and  it  yet  remains  to  be  proved  that  he  immersed 
one  person  or  plunged  any  totally  under  water. 

His  commission  was  "to  baptize  with  water," 
not  to  plunge  under  water ;  and  with  the  express 
directions  of  God,  who  sent  him  to  fulfil  his  minis- 
try, he  was  not  at  liberty  to  trifle  by  addition  or 
diminution.  If  it  could  even  be  shown  that  he  did 
immerse,  still  his  was  not  Christian  baptism,  as 
those  baptized  by  him  declared  that  they  had  not 
so  much  as  heard  whether  there  were  any  Holy 
Ghost ;  and  on  becoming  the  disciples  of  Christ 
after  their  instruction  by  the  apostle  Paul,  they 
were  "  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 
Acts  xix. 

While  such  persons  do  thus  cast  aside  all  those 
instructions  of  the  divine  word  which  refer  to  the 
sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  dwell 
on  what  they  suppose  to  be  examples,  still  they 
have  ample  aliment  for  no  ordinary  faith  in  the 
mode  of  baptism,  which  Wall  represents  as  having 
existed  among  "  the  ancient  Christians,"  who,  he 
says,  were  baptized  in  total  nudity.  I  have  yet  to 
learn  that  in  observing  either  of  those  holy  ordi- 
nances, called  sacraments,  instituted  by  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  we  can,  not  only  with  impunity,  but 
with  acceptance  to  God,  break  any  precept  of  the 
decalogue ;  yet  this  must  be  believed  if  the  reported 


BAPTISM.  109 

example  of  the  above-named  "  ancient  Christians  " 
be  our  rule.  This  same  author  assures  us  *  that 
"  great  care  was  taken  to  preserve  the  modesty  of 
any  woman,  for  till  she  was  undressed  and  her 
body  under  the  water,  none  but  women  came  within 
sight  of  her;  and  then  the  priest,  putting  her  head 
under  the  water,  and  using  the  common  form  of 
baptism,  went  his  way,  and  left  her  to  the  care  of  the 
women,  to  take  her  out  of  the  water,  and  to  clothe 
her  again  with  a  white  garment."  Here  was  the 
division  of  labor,  in  use  long  prior  to  some  of  its 
adaptations  to  the  mechanical  arts;  and  if  the 
priesthood  of  those  days  (if  such  scenes  were  ever 
enacted)  did  not  break  the  seventh  commandment, 
as  interpreted  by  our  Savior,  "  the  heart"  cannot  be 
at  all  times  "  deceitful  above  all  things  and  des- 
perately wicked." 

It  would  also  have  taken,  not  only  the  three 
Marys  and  Peter's  wife  and  her  mother,  but  all  the 
women  which  had  previously  followed  Jesus  from 
Galilee,  to  have  prepared  in  such  a  manner,  and 
afterwards  to  have  finished  off  by  raising  out  of  the 
water  and  clothing  with  a  white  robe,  any  fair  pro- 
portion of  the  three  thousand  souls  who  were  bap- 
tized at  Pentecost,  if  the  apostles  had  adopted  on 
that  day  this  division  of  labor.  "  My  yoke  is  easy 
and  my  burden  is  light." 

Leaving  the  awkward  mode  of  baptism  which 


*  History  of  Baptism,  Vol.  IV. 

10 


110  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

these  "  ancient  Christians  "  are  said  to  have  prac- 
tised, and  which,  if  it  ever  existed  as  authorized  by 
Christ,  modern  Baptists  should  not  and  dare  never 
abandon,  and  for  which  I  can  find  no  shadow  of  a 
warrant  from  Scripture,  I  proceed  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  immersion  into  America. 

According  to  Hutchinson,  (in  his  History  of 
Massachusetts,)  the  scriptural  restraints  of  the  Puri- 
tans were  not  precise  enough  for  "  the  Rev.  Roger 
Williams,  of  Salem.  He  taught  that  it  is  not  lawful 
for  an  unregenerate  man  to  pray.  (Vol.  I.  p.  41.) 
He  separated  from  all  the  churches,  and  then  from 
his  own  in  Salem ;  then  from  his  own  wife  because 
she  worshipped  with  said  church ;  and  eventually 
would  neither  ask  a  blessing  nor  return  thanks  if 
she  were  present."  (P.  43.)  For  alleged  disturb- 
ances of  the  peace  he  was  expelled  from  the  colony, 
and  eventually  gave  to  the  place  of  his  selection  the 
name  of  Providence.  Having  no  belief  in  the  scrip- 
tural authority  of  a  Presbytery  or  Prelatic  bishop, 
he,  according  to  Hubbard,  as  quoted  by  Hutchin- 
son, "was  baptized  at  Providence  by  one  Holman. 
He  then  baptized  Holman  and  ten  more.  Wil- 
liams afterwards  renounced  this  baptism,  not  being 
able  to  derive  the  authority  for  it  from  the  apostles, 
but  through  the  ministers  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, whom  he  judged  to  be  unchristian.  He  re- 
fused communion  with  all  Christians  of  every  pro- 
fession, and  conceived  that  God  would  raise  up 
new  apostles,  and  expected  to  be  one  himself.     Ha 


BAPTISM.  Ill 

afterwards  changed,  and  would  preach  and  pray 
with  any  that  would  hear  him  without  any  distinc- 
tion." (P.  43.)  "  In  the  year  1639  *  Mr.  Williams 
formed  the  first  Baptist  church  in  America  at 
Providence." 

As  they  can  show  no  "thus  saith  the  Lord"  for 
a  total  immersion  of  the  whole  person  under  water, 
the  performance  of  their  peculiar  rite  admits  of 
some  varations,  according  to  fancy,  or  "  the  customs 
of  the  churches."  While  some  resort  to  a  river, 
others  go  to  the  tide ;  some  to  a  pool ;  some  build 
ponds,  (as  in  the  church  yard  at  Salem,  Massachu- 
setts ;)  some  have  a  tank  beneath  their  meeting 
houses,  while  others  still  build  one  in  their  place  of 
worship  beneath  their  pulpits ;  so  that,  instead  of  help- 
ing the  imagination  in  interpreting  the  expression, 
"  they  went  down  both  of  them  into  the  water," 
tomean'that  the  one  put  the  other  totally  under  the 
water,  this  modern  fashionable  arrangement  makes 
the  immerser  and  the  candidate  for  immersion 
to  go  up  (two  or  three  steps)  "  both  of  them  into  the 
water"  This  new  version  of  the  hackneyed  phrase, 
"  going  down  into  Jordan,"  is,  however,  so  far  as 
I  can  discern,  only  a  ray  of  the  meridian  "  light  of 
the  nineteenth  century,"  before  which,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  too  many,  the  illumination  of  the  Scriptures 
of  truth  sinks  as  the  morning  star  before  the  rising 
sun.    I  think  it  doubtful  if  "  the  ancient  Christians  " 

*  Hayward. 


112  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

already  mentioned  knew  any  thing  precisely  of 
this  sort,  or  that  their  ci  priests  "  had  any  immersion 
robes  of  India  rubber. 

By  the  way,  in  all  gravity,  I  would  ask,  as  they 
only  immersed  the  head  of  a  woman,  was  not  the 
body  done  by  lay  baptism  ?  and  how  far  does  effu- 
sion or  sprinkling  the  face  with  water,  fall  short  of 
dipping  only  the  head?  As  Sabbaths  may  be 
made  by  the  frosts  of  winter  both  unpleasant  and 
inconvenient  for  submersions,  so  "  ordinance  days  " 
are  more  common,  in  the  Eastern  States,  in 
spring  than  during  that  season;  and  sometimes 
candidates  for  immersion,  who  have  "  come  "  to 
Christ  in  cold  weather,  cannot  undergo,  but  at  the 
peril  of  life,  this  "  yoke  "  of  this  portion  of  the 
social  compact,  and  have  to  die  without  being  re- 
ceived by  any  immersing  church  as  separated  from 
the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  the  heathen..  "  This 
thing  ought  not  so  to  be."  "  Can  any  man,"  or 
any  arrangement  of  men,  "  forbid  water,  that  these 
should  not  be  baptized,  who  have  received  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  who  have  been  "  born  of  the  Spirit,"  and 
who  have  believed  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "as 
well  as  we  "  ? 

Although  in  immersing  there  appears  to  be  a  gen- 
eral uniformity  among  the  various  sects  of  Baptists, 
still  the  Dunkers,  a  division  who  profess  to  keep 
the  seventh  day,  immerse  "  by  putting  the  person, 
while  kneeling,  head  first  under  the  water,  so  as  to 
resemble   the  motion  of  the  body  in  the  act  of 


BAPTISM.  -     113 

tumbling.  They  use  the  trine  immersion,  with 
laying  on  the  hands  and  prayer,  even  when  the  per- 
son baptized  is  in  the  water."  This,  however,  is 
only  one  of  the  changes  rung  upon  human  opinion 
where  men  believe  too  little,  and  it  is  well  cherished 
by  imagination. 

When  we  read  of  a  baptism  into  death,  by 
which,  in  regeneration,  we  are  buried  with  Christ  — 
when  we  become  freed  from  and  dead  to  the  law 
as  a  covenant  of  works  —  imagination,  among  Bap- 
tists, associates  the  operation  of  the  Spirit,  in  this 
work,  in  our  souls,  with  the  prediction  that  "  the  Son 
of  man  must  be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the 
heart  of  the  earth,"  laid  on  a  dry  rock,  in  the  tomb 
of  Joseph.  This  operation  of  mind,  under  this 
order  and  division  of  faith,  finds  the  true  represen- 
tation of  such  a  spiritual  burial,  or  planting,  or  cruci- 
fixion, (regeneration  being  taught  and  represented 
by  each  of  these  figures,)  only  in  a  total  submer- 
sion of  the  body,  for  a  period  varying  from  a  single 
moment  to  the  time  necessary  to  lay  on  hands 
and  pray. 

While  there  is  in  the  mode  not  a  little  of  "  the 
spice  of  life  "  between  the  Regular  Baptists  and  the 
other  varieties  down  to  the  Latter  Day  Saints,  still 
they  have  all  one  common  vantage  ground,  from  or 
by  the  tame  admission  of  Prelatists  and  Presbyte- 
rians, who  generally  concede  that  immersion,  as 
practised  by  this  order  of  Congregationalists,  is 
baptism.  Hence,  say  they,  you  admit  that  our 
10* 


114  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

mode  of  disturbing  the  water  with  the  human  body 
is  baptism,  and  we  deny  that  your  sprinkling  or 
pouring  is  baptism  with  water  at  all;  therefore 
come  with  us;  your  concession  proves  our  practice, 
if  not  scripturally  and  absolutely  correct,  to  be  at 
least  "  sufficiently  divine."  This  fallacy,  while 
maintained  by  those  who  believe  less  than  the  en- 
tire word  of  God,  becomes  toothless  where  our  ap- 
peal is  made  to  all  Scripture  as  given  equally  in  all 
parts  by  inspiration,  although  it  often  has  an 
overwhelming  influence  upon  minds  which  have 
not  "  put  away  childish  things." 

To  a  strict  adherent  to  the  teachings  of  Scripture, 
it  is  doubtful  if  immersing  in  any  way  be  Christian 
baptism  at  all ;  yet  under  the  mantle  of  modern 
charity,  some  general  undefined  idea  exists  on  the 
minds  of  almost  all  professing  Christians,  that 
somehow  or  other  immersion  must  be  baptism. 

Vague  and  indistinct  views  of  inspiration,  the 
idea  that  a  church  polity  or  a  doctrine  may  be 
"  sufficiently  divine,"  while  not  detailed  nor  even 
taught*  in  the  word  of  God,  often  leads  to  this 
conclusion.  Hence  there  was  a  spicing  of  "  the 
force  of  truth  "  in  the  witty  hit  told  by  Archbishop 
Hughes,  that  "  when  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Newell  and 


*  If  those  who  believe  "  that  the  germ  of  Congregationalism  is 
found  in  the  New  Testament,"  in  other  places  than  in  Acts  xxiii.  12, 
and  in  the  word  "  and  "  in  the  twenty-third  verse  of  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  that  book,  I  will  thank  them  to  point  it  out.  That  it  is 
found  in  Gen.  xi.  4,  Num.  xiv.  4,  and  Ps.  lxxxiii.  12,  I  grant. 


BAPTISM.  115 

Judson  were  sent  out  by  the  New  England  Con- 
gregationalists  to  convert  the  heathen,  they  had  not 
determined  and  did  not  know  what  gospel  they 
should  teach,  or  at  least  in  what  manner  they  should 
dispense  the  ordinance  of  baptism  to  best  sub- 
serve this  purpose."  Consequently  the  devoted  and 
godly  Judson  held  his  own  opinion  as  "  sufficiently 
divine,"  in  relation  both  to  the  subject  and  mode  of 
baptism,  and  on  it  renounced,  in  relation  to  this  or- 
dinance, the  faith  and  practice  of  his  fathers. 

Multitudes  of  others  have  made  a  similar  change. 
Where  this  has  been  done  by  those  who  were  pre- 
viously Episcopalians  or  Presbyterians,  their  first 
step  has  been  always  the  abandonment  of  their  ec- 
clesiastical regimen,  by  wheeling  into  line  under 
the  banner  of   Congregationalism. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  LORD'S   SUPPER. 

The  diversity  of  view  and  practice  in  relation 
to  this  ordinance,  which  exists  in  Christendom, 
springs  from,  or  at  least  is  extensively  regulated  by, 
the  form  of  church  government. 

"  The  Lord's  supper  is  a  sacrament  wherein,  by 
giving  and  receiving  bread  and  wine,  according  to 
Christ's  appointment,  his  death  is  showed  forth ;  and 
the  worthy  receivers  are,  not  after  a  corporal  and 
carnal  manner,  but  by  faith,  made  partakers  of  his 
body  and  blood,  with  all  his  benefits  to  their  spirit- 
ual nourishment  and  growth  in  grace."  In  relation 
to  it,  this  is  the  doctrine  of  Presbyterians. 

As  by  baptism  the  external  seal  of  recognition  is 
placed  upon  the  professing  people  of  God,  so,  for 
their  edification  and  growth  in  the  divine  life,  they 
are  not  only  to  employ  the  other  outward  means 
of  grace,  but  also  to  "  show  forth  the  Lord's  death 
until  he  come,"  for  he  has  said,  "  This  do  in  re- 
membrance of  me."  In  this  ordinance,  Presbyte- 
rians, (where  due  self-examination  has  been  prac- 
tised,) by  the  eye  of  faith,  see  Christ  set  forth  as 
crucified  before  them,  and  in  the  words  of  inst^tu- 

(116) 


THE    LORD'S    SUPPER.  117 

tion  they  find  him  saying,  "This  is"  (that  is  repre- 
sents) "  my  body  broken  for  you."  As  Christ  "  sat 
down  with  the  twelve  "  in  their  usual  table  posture, 
and  as  the  Holy  Ghost  contrasts  "  the  Lord's  table  " 
with  "the  table  of  devils,"  so  those  who  believe 
precisely  what  the  Bible  teaches  maintain  that 
"  after  exhortation,  warning,  and  invitation,  the 
table  being  before  decently  covered,  and  so  conven- 
iently placed,  that  the  communicants  may  orderly 
sit  about  it,  or  at  it,"  after  reading  the  words  of 
institution  and  offering  prayer,  "  the  minister,  being 
at  the  table,"  is  to  dispense  the  elements.  Keep- 
ing his  position  there,  he  is  to  stir  up  their  minds 
after  the  example  of  Christ  and  the  apostle  Paul, 
while  "  the  elders  who  rule  well,"  in  waiting  in  their 
office,  are  to  afford  the  opportunity  of  partaking 
to  all  who  with  propriety  have  taken  a  seat  at  the 
table. 

In  u  holding  forth  the  word  of  life  "  on  this  most 
solemn  occasion,  when  the  members  of  the  church 
are  separated  from  all  others,  much  time  is  spent  in 
stirring  up  the  graces  of  the  divine  life  in  their 
souls ;  in  urging  them,  by  the  exceeding  sinfulness 
of  sin  and  the  precious  nature  of  the  blood  of 
Christ,  to  follow  holiness. 

To  this  form  of  observance  Presbyterians  are 
constrained  by  the  example  of  our  Savior,  who,  at 
the  first  dispensation  of  his  supper,  at  his  table,  de- 
livered those  familiar  reproofs,  exhortations,  warn- 
ings, and  encouragements,  which  are  recorded  in 


118  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  Gospel  by  John,  chapters  xiv.,  xv.,  and  xvi., 
where  he  also  declared,  "  With  desire  I  have  desired 
to  eat  this  passover  with  you  before  I  suffer." 

The  example  of  the  apostle  Paul  at  Troas  they 
view  also  as  a  warrant  for  an  extended  considera- 
tion of  the  privileges  and  duties  of  those  who  at 
his  table  would  "  show  forth  the  Lord's  death  until 
he  come."  Having,  in  preaching,  "  continued  his 
speech  until  midnight,"  and  having  afterwards 
"  broken  bread  and  eaten,  he  talked  a  long  while." 
"When  they  convene  with  suitable  affections  and 
graces,  the  communion  Sabbath  forms  to  them 
the  golden  hours  of  time,  and  a  prelude  to  those 
glorious  realities,  where  at  the  marriage  supper  in 
the  upper  sanctuary,  "the  Lamb  himself  shall  feed 
them,"  and  join  with  them  in  drinking  the  wine 
which  is  ever  new.  As  the  supper  was  instituted 
to  be  a  commemoration  of  his  decease  by  the  liv- 
ing monuments  of  his  grace,  and  the  trophies  of 
his  power,  so  it  is  to  be  dispensed  and  received  on 
that  day  which  he  has  made  glorious  by  bursting 
the  bands  of  death,  and  resting  in  eternal  joy  from 
all  his  humiliation  and  works  in  "the  days  of  his 
flesh,"  and  which  is  to  be  sacredly  observed  and 
sanctified  as  "the  Lord's  day." 

Hence,  while  Paul  tarried  at  Troas  seven  days, 
he  would  not  alter  the  precise  time  set  by  the  dis- 
ciples, which  was  "the  first  day  of  the  week;"  he 
would  not  dispense  it  on  the  second,  third,  fourth, 
fifth,  sixth,  nor  seventh  day  of  the  week,  even  when 


119 


"  ready  "  and  desirous  "  to  depart  on  the  morrow," 
so  soon  as  the  communion  Sabbath  should  be  over. 
If  the  precise  day  had  been  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence, and  a  secular  day  had  been  equally  as  proper 
for  the  observance  of  "  the  breaking  of  bread  "  as 
the  Christian  Sabbath,  his  apostolic  authority  could 
easily  have  altered  the  arrangement,  equally  to  their 
edification,  and  much  to  his  own  convenience.  He 
had  "  received  of  the  Lord  (1  Cor.  xi.  23)  that  which 
he  delivered  "  to  the  disciples,  both  in  Corinth  and  in 
Troas,  pertaining  to  the  communion,  (1  Cor.  x.  16 ;) 
and  this  instruction,  in  its  place  and  relative  impor- 
tance, referred  as  much  to  the  time  of  dispensation 
as  to  the  dangers  of  unworthy  communicating. 

Instead  of  coming  together  only  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week  to  break  bread,  Protestant  Episcopa- 
lians dispense  this  ordinance  on  Maunday  Thursday, 
Christmas,  and  other  feast  days,  appointed  by  "  the 
church ; "  and  some  modern  Congregationalists,  im- 
itating in  so  far  their  example,  dispense  it  not  only 
to  their  churches  on  the  Sabbath,  but  to  promiscu- 
ous associations,  called  Boards,  on  chosen  days  of 
secular  time,  such  as  the  fifth  day  of  the  week.* 
Believing  also  too  little,  the  (self-styled)  Unitarians 
in  America  assemble  annually  on  the  fourth  Thurs- 
day of  May,  and  proceed  to  observe  this  ordinance, 


*  Thus  making  a  movable  Maundy  Thursday,  dependent  not  on  the 
full  moon,  but  on  the  opinions  of  religious  men  who  consider  such  an 
arrangement  "  sufficiently  divine." 


120  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

under  the   shade  of  the  late   Dr.  William  Ellery 
Ch aiming,  in  Federal  Street  Church,  Boston. 

In  relation  to  the  use  of  a  table  in  this  ordinance, 
and  the  sitting  posture  which  it  implies,  between 
Presbyterians  and  others  there  has  always  existed 
a  debate.  In  the  Westminster  Assembly,  "  the 
Independents  occupied  them  no  less  than  three 
weeks  in  debating  the  point  of  sitting  at  a  commu- 
nion table.  The  unhappy  Independents  *  would 
mangle  that  sacrament.  No  catechizing  nor  prep- 
aration before  ;  no  thanksgiving  after ;  no  sacra- 
mental doctrine  nor  chapters  in  the  day  of  celebra- 
tion ;  no  coming  up  to  any  table,  but  a  carrying  of 
the  elements  to  all  in  their  seats  athwart  the 
church."  This  manner  of  carrying  the  elements  to 
all  in  their  seats,  instead  of  all  as  "  one  bread"  sur- 
rounding the  sacramental  board,  has  grown,  as  a 
matter  of  choice,  among  all  those  who  believe  too 
little,  until  it  now  might,  instead  of  being  called 
u  the  Lord's  table,"  be  called  the  modern  hand- 
about.f 


*  Baillie. 

t  It  is  told  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Baxter,  that  being  requested  by  a 
friend  to  express  his  opinion  about  the  then  recent  introduction  of 
handing  around,  in  private  entertainments,  the  articles  of  food  and 
drink  at  supper,  he  gave  for  answer  that  it  was  "  a  custom  which  the 
devil  had  invented  to  cheat  the  Almighty  out  of  the  blessing."  ;<  For," 
said  he,  "before  all  are  supplied,  those  who  were  served  first  have  well 
begun,  and  an  opportunity  for  unitedly  asking  a  blessing  is  thus 
politely  lost."  The  handabout  "  saves  time,"  and  is  decidedly,  among 
some  professing  Christians,  more  fashionable  and  polite  than  "  the 
Lord's  table  ;  "  but  which,  God  or  the  devil,  would  Baxter  say,  is  most 


121 


Borrowing  the  usage  from  them,  instead  of  hon- 
oring the  solemn  vow*  of  the  authors  of  their 
standards,  or  instead  of  being  consistent  with  their 
confession  of  faith  itself,  many  Presbyterians,  for 
the  sake  of  convenience,  and,  as  they  imagine,  "  to 
save  time,"  in  this  most  precious,  solemn,  and 
profitable  ordinance,  forsake  the  detailed  services 
of  the  table  for  this  more  rapid  and  unscriptural 
custom.  This  changing  of  their  scriptural  mode 
of  worship,  at  the  expense  of  consistency,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  hail  to  be  Presbyterians,  is  work- 
ing many  serious  and  growing  evils  in  the  churches; 
not  only  resolving  the  manner  of  performing  duty 
into  expediency,  but  keeping  back  from  the  observa- 
tion and  experience,  even  of  Christians,  some  of 
the  most  solemn  and  instructive  lessons  given  by 
our  Redeemer. 

Where  we  "  confer  not  with  flesh  and  blood,"  an 
extended  season  spent  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  (and 
a  succession  of  table  services  where  it  is  required,) 
commends  itself  to  every  man's  conscience  as  the 
scriptural  and  "more  excellent  way."     The  same 


likely,  under  this  modern  arrangement,  to  be  cheated  out  of  the 
blessing  ? 

*  The  promise  and  vow  taken  by  every  member  admitted  to  sit  in 
the  Westminster  Assembly  :  — 

"  I,  A  B,  do  seriously  promise  and  vow,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty 
God,  that  in  this  assembly,  whereof  I  am  a  member,  I  will  maintain 
nothing  in  point  of  doctrine  but  what  I  believe  to  be  most  agreeable  to 
the  word  of  God,  nor  in  point  of  discipline  but  what  may  make  most 
for  God's  glory  and  the  peace  and  good  of  this  church." 
11 


122  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

spiritual  attainment  and  elevation  of  soul  are  not 
elsewhere  enjoyed.  When  we  examine  ourselves, 
and  "  keep  the  feast "  during  a  good  part  of  the 
"  great  day  of  the  feast,"  we  realize  wThat  it  is  to 
be  with  Christ  upon  the  holy  mount,  and  that  "  a 
day "  (not  a  hasty  hour)  "  in  the  courts  of  God's 
house  is  better  than  a  thousand"  spent  "  according 
to  the  course  of  tins  world."  To  the  believing  soul, 
which  spiritually  hungers  and  thirsts,  the  "  decease 
w^hich  Jesus  accomplished  at  Jerusalem,"  affords 
profitable  and  elevating  meditation,  not  for  less 
than  a  single  hour,  but  for  much  of  a  communion 
Sabbath. 

While,  by  abandoning  a  more  for  a  less  solemn 
form  of  approach  to  God  in  this  ordinance,  indiffer- 
ence to  its  blessings  usually  grows  in  a  correspond- 
ing degree  among  Congregationalists,  (and  those 
Presbyterians  who  conform  to  them,)  Episcopalians 
of  every  orde*  avoid  a  table  altogether ;  and  while 
the  Anglican  church  and  her  American  correlative 
have  altars  and  priests,  the  man  of  sin  perfects  the 
analogy,  and  has  with  these  the  sacrifice  of  the 
mass.  Not  only  does  he  withhold  from  his  fol- 
lowers "the  Lord's  cup,"  but  maintains  the  pal- 
pable and  abominable  falsehood  that  the  material 
wafer,  which  is  with  superstitious  reverence  placed 
upon  the  tongue  of  the  credulous  devotee,  is  by 
priestly  incantation  turned  into  the  very  body  and 
blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  is  a  sacrifice 
for  the  quick  and  for  the  dead.     Here  is  too  much 


the  lord's  supper.  123 

faith.  All  consequently  must  kneel,  when  thus 
about  to  swallow,  by  transubstantiation,  our  God 
and  Redeemer. 

While  from  this  desecration  Luther  stood  aloof, 
and  against  it  protested,  still  believing  in  prelatic 
authority,  and  consequently  believing  too  much, 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  consubstantiation,  by 
which  in  some  imaginary  way  the  body  and  blood 
of  our  Savior  are  present  with  the  elements  of 
bread  and  wine.  -  Such  a  surplus  of  credulity  al- 
ways requires  kneeling  at  a  supposed  altar,  instead 
of  a  table  and  a  sitting  posture  around  it.  In  the 
Anglican  church,  while  she  eschews  the  idea  of  a 
real  presence  in  or  with  the  bread,  yet  believing 
too  much,  "  the  communicants  being  conveniently 
placed,"  are  to  receive  "  the  holy  sacrament  meekly 
kneeling  on  their  knees." 

Exercising  this  order  of  faith,  the  Methodists  in 
like  manner  avoid  a  table,  and  kneel  at  an  altar, 
so  called  in  prelatic  phraseology.  Episcopacy 
consequently,  in  all  its  varieties,  in  so  far  as  it  sub- 
stitutes a  kneeling  for  a  table  posture,  attaches  to 
the  appointed  elements  of  bread  and  wine  either  a 
real  or  an  imaginary  presence  (to  some  extent)  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  instead  of  simply  that  spirit- 
ual presence  which  is  realized  by  "  the  faith  of 
God's  elect." 

This  fetter  of  Prelacy  appears,  in  the  reformation 
from  Popery,  to  have  been  first  broken  by  Zwin- 
glius;  and^-hile  by  Presbyterians  this  sacrament  is 


124  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

viewed  as  merely  a  sanctifying  institution,  some 
Congregationalists,  such  as  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Edwards  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stoddard,  have  main- 
tained it  to  be  a  converting  ordinance.  So  varied 
does  its  sacred,  sealing  character  become,  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  other  teachings  of  Scripture, 
under  the  plastic  hand  of  church  government. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

DISCIPLINE. 

A  Christian  church  is  a  society  of  persons  sep- 
arated from  the  rest  of  mankind,  professing  to  be- 
lieve in  Christ,  to  be  sanctified  by  his  Spirit,  and  to 
observe  his  ordinances. 

This  character  can  be  preserved  only  by  the  faith- 
ful exercise  of  a  scriptural  discipline,  in  which  a 
church  court  should  manifest  order,  meekness, 
solemnity,  and  impartiality.  When  admitting 
persons  to  membership  in  the  church,  rulers  are 
bound  to  receive  those  who  make  a  credible  pro- 
fession of  faith  in  Christ,  together  with  their  chil- 
dren ;  and  that  man  is  to  be  viewed  as  making  a 
credible  profession  of  religion  who  manifests  an 
acquaintance  with  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  gos- 
pel, who  declares  himself  to  be  a  believer  in  these 
doctrines,  who  professes  that  his  heart  has  been 
renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  who  maintains 
a  conversation  becoming  the  gospel :  yet  that  any 
man  is  really  a  saint  can  be  known  only  to  God. 

Consequently,  as  the  tares  and  wheat  grow  to- 
gether till  the  harvest,  and  believers  "find  a  law 
in  their  members  bringing  them  into  captivity  to 
11  *  (125) 


126  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  law  of  sin,"  so  no  church  on  earth  is  absolutely- 
pure,  and  in  the  execution  of  discipline  members 
become  liable  to  church  censures,  where  they  ap- 
pear, for  error  in  doctrine,  immorality  in  practice, 
despising  the  authority,  or  order,  or  ordinances  of 
the  church,  and  for  neglecting  the  public,  domestic, 
or  secret  duties  of  religion. 

While,  in  the  execution  of  discipline,  the  censure 
should  vary  in  proportion  to  the  crime,  the  Scrip- 
tures, as  read  by  Presbyterians,  always  attach  a 
solemn  importance  to  the  censures  of  the  church. 
"When  pronounced  according  to  the  law  of  Christ, 
they  view  it  as  ratified  in  heaven,  and  consider  it 
to  be  the  duty  of  those  who  have  been  judged 
worthy  of  censure  to  submit  to  it,  to  humble  them- 
selves under  it,  to  repent  and  do  their  first  works ; 
and  whenever  sufficient  evidence  of  repentance  and 
reformation  has  been  afforded,  the  offender  may  be 
restored.  Without  it,  injury  would  be  done  to  the 
people  of  God.  Then  godly  persons  would  be 
hindered  from  joining  the  church,  and  those  in  it 
who  are,  or  may  become,  pious  would  be  obliged  to 
separate  from  her.  By  neglect  of  discipline,  injury 
will  be  done  to  the  sinner,  who  will  then  be  con- 
firmed in  his  carelessness,  self-deception,  and  sin ; 
and  as  the  last  means  appointed  by  Christ  to  lead 
him  to  repentance  is  neglected,  he  is  in  great  dan- 
ger of  finally  perishing.  By  the  neglect  of  jt,  the 
church  would  sustain  injury.  She  would  then  be 
made   to  appear   as   unholy  as   the   kingdom  of 


DISCIPLINE. 


127 


Satan;  sacred  ordinances  would  be  prostituted;  the 
Head  of  the  church  dishonored;  the  Holy  Spirit 
would  be  grieved,  and  be  forced  to  withdraw,  and 
the  wrath  of  God  be  brought  upon  the  church,  as 
we  see  in  the  case  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  judiciously  exercised,  they 
believe  that  by  discipline  the  offender  may  see  sin 
to  be  evil  and  shameful,  and  when  received  with. 
humility,  it  has  a  powerful  tendency  to  humble, 
reclaim,  and  edify  him. 

While  sinners  are  hereby  discouraged  from  hypo- 
critically joining  the  church,  and  the  leaven  which* 
might  infect  the  whole  lump  is  purged  out,  at  the 
same  time  the  number  of  her  true  converts  is  in- 
creased, her  holiness  manifested,  the  honor  of  her 
Head  vindicated,  and  the  gracious  blessing  and 
presence  of   God  secured. 

For  the  faithful  exercise  of  discipline,  they  who 
hold  from  Christ  the  office  of  rulers  of  the  church 
are  deeply  responsible.  As  their  faithfulness  will 
be  followed  by  so  many  and  great  blessings,  and 
their  negligence  must  be  a  source  of  deep  and  last- 
ing injuries  to  the  church,  of  dishonor  to  Christ, 
and  evil  to  sinners,  so  they  should  feel  themselves 
under  a  most  solemn  responsibility  in  this  matter; 
and  they  must  expect  to  be  called  to  a  most  strict 
account,  at  the  final  day,  for  the  part  which  they 
act  in  relation  to  it.  "  They  watch  for  souls,  as 
they  that  must  give  an  account." 

Such   are  some  of  the  views  of  the  discipline 


128  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

which  Christ  has  appointed  for  his  church,  which 
are  held  by  Presbyterians;  and  they  vary  in  extent 
and  degree  from  what  is  found  under  Episcopal 
regimen.  In  their  nineteenth  article  the  Protestant 
Prelatic  church  in  the  United  States  says,  "  The 
visible  church  of  Christ  is  a  congregation  of  faith- 
ful men,  in  the  which  the  pure  word  of  God  is 
preached,  and  the  sacraments  be  duly  ministered 
according  to  Christ's  ordinance,  in  all  those  things 
that  of  necessity  are  requisite  to  the  same.  As  the 
church  of  Hierusalem,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch 
have  erred,  so  also  the  church  of  Rome  hath  erred, 
not  only  in  their  living  and  manner  of  ceremonies, 
but  also  in  matters  of  faith."  Truly,  in  this  account 
she  "  deals  gently  with  the  erring,"  and  she  provides 
only  for  "  excommunicate  persons,  how  they  are  to 
be  avoided,"  in  her  thirty-third  article.  "  That  per- 
son which,  by  the  open  denunciation  of  the  church, 
is  rightly  cut  off  from  the  unity  of  the  church  and 
excommunicated,  ought  to  be  taken  of  the  whole 
multitude  of  the  faithful,  as  a  heathen  man  and 
publican,  until  he  be  openly  reconciled  by  penance, 
and  received  into  the  church  by  a  judge  that  hath 
authority  thereunto."  For  crimes  less  than  that  of 
"  open  denunciation  of  the  church,"  (of  course  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church  alone,)  censures  ap- 
pear to  be  in  her  estimation  unnecessary ;  at  least  for 
them,  in  her  "  articles,"  she  has  made  no  provision. 
Hence,  the  rigidity  of  Presbyterian  discipline 
being  wanting,  the  results  may  be  easily  anticipated. 


DISCIPLINE.  129 

There  will  be  then  less  training  to  austerity  and 
gravity  of  deportment,  and  many  things  considered 
to  be  inconsistent  with  Christian  character  under 
the  one  form  of  government  will  appear  to  be  mere 
trifles,  and  far  from  being  censurable,  under  the 
other.  In  the  provision  made  by  scriptural  au- 
thority for  ruling  elders  to  watch  for  the  souls  of 
the  flock,  a  vast  advantage  is  experimentally  dis- 
covered (where  they  "  use  their  office  well ")  over 
those  who  commit  all  rule  to  a  diocesan  prelate,  or 
subordinately  to  a  single  curate,  or  even  to  vestry- 
men and  wardens  as  his  assistants. 

The  "  things  which  are  honest,  just,  pure,  true, 
lovely,  and  of  good  report,"  usually  find  as  genial 
a  soil,  and  experience  as  ample  a  growth,  under  the 
former  as  the  latter,  while  the  pleasures  and  honors 
of  this  world  find  little  with  which  to  quarrel 
under  Episcopacy,  so' long  as  men  do  not  indulge  in 
"  open  denunciation  of  the  church."  In  discipline, 
then,  these  two  forms  of  government  usually  mani- 
fest different  results. 

The  Rev.  John  Wesley  laid  down  a  variety  of 
rules  in  discipline  for  his  societies,  which  are  gen- 
erally obeyed  by  his  followers  in  America ;  yet  they 
fail  in  producing  an  integrity  of  character  and  firm- 
ness of  principle  equal  to,  or  surpassing,  those  re- 
sulting from  a  faithful  execution  of  the  general 
discipline  adopted  by  Presbyterians.  Where  the 
creature  is  made  the  arbiter  of  his  own  destiny, 
and   at   pleasure    can  obtain    religion  or    lose    it, 


130        PHILOSOPHY  OF  SECTARIANISM. 

discipline  has  an  intimate  connection  with  both 
doctrine  and  government. 

Under  Congregationalism,  wherever  the  office  of 
ruling  elder  has  been  occupied,  and  the  faces  of  the 
elders  have  been  honored,  purity  of  discipline  has 
been  maintained;  while  just  in  proportion  as  this 
scriptural  office  has  been  abandoned,  and  its  im- 
perative duties  have  been  assigned  to  an  unscrip- 
tural  order  of  deacons  as  spiritual  rulers,  or  com- 
mittees, or  whole  church  discipline,  according  to 
the  modern  "  customs  of  the  churches,"  purity  of 
principle  and  integrity  of  character  have  "  gained 
much  harm  and  loss." 

Hence  Connecticut,  which  has  always  in  the 
discipline  of  her  Congregational  churches  ap- 
proached nearer  than  any  other  portion  of  New 
England  to  Presbyterian  supervision,  has  been 
justly  called  the  "  land  of  steady  habits,"  notwith- 
standing that  under  the  travesty  of  "  the  blue  laws  " 
the  very  secret  of  her  moral  worth  has  been  ex- 
posed to  ridicule.  Those  days,  when  in  New  Eng- 
land, according  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Higginson,  men 
did  not  make  commerce  in  relation  to  religion  as 
thirteen  to  twelve,  were  days  of  purity  of  doctrine, 
true  godliness,  and  moral  worth,  when  compared 
with  subsequent  periods  in  the  same  land  placed 
under  the  panacea  of  moral  suasion. 

When  a  segregation  of  professors  come  together 
under  this  regimen,  it  is  not  to  "  obey  them  that 
have  the  rule  over  "  them,  and  who  "  take  care  of 


DISCIPLINE.  131 

the  house  of  God,"  but  to  "  engage  in  the  presence 
of  God,  his  holy  angels,  and  this  assembly,  to  sub- 
mit to  the  rules  of  government  and  discipline 
which  this  church  has  adopted."  A  majority  con- 
curring, this  "  adopted  "  discipline  may  not  only  be 
exchanged  for  another  more  congenial  to  any  new 
"  custom  of  the  churches,"  but  it  may  at  any  time 
be  rendered  a  dead  letter  by  a  present  vote;* 
consequently  "  be  and  let  be  "  may  render  void  the 
execution  of  any  "  adopted  "  discipline. 

The  effects  of  this  and  other  kindred  influences 
are  often  so  painfully  visible,  that  the  moral  sceptic 
will  tell  you  that  he  does  not  see  that  joining  a 
church  makes  men  any  more  honest,  and  that  in 
matters  of  dollars,  he  would  as  soon  have  the  word 
of  an  unbeliever  as  that  of  many  religious  church 
members  or  deacons.  "  They  took  knowledge  of 
them,  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus."  "  Let  your 
light  so  shine  before  men,  that  others,  seeing  your 
good  works,  may  glorify  your  Father  who  is  in 
heaven." 

It  is  one  of  the  dark  "  signs  of  the  times,"  that 
the  discipline  prescribed  by  Christ,  as  the  lawgiver 
of  the  church,  is  almost  every  where  greatly  neg- 
lected ;  yet  under  each  form  of  church  government 
it  produces  corresponding  results. 

*  For  "Congregational  usage  is  an  uncertain  thing."  —  Eds.  In-* 
dependent. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  SANCTIFICATION  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

A  bare  inspection  of  any  part  of  the  Papal 
earth  will  show  to  us  that,  by  the  unauthorized 
creating  and  multiplication  of  saints  and  festival 
days,  Popery  has  proportionably  blotted  from  the 
page  of  time  the  Christian  Sabbath.  She  has 
changed  its  name  for  the  pagan  one  of  Sunday, 
and  by  a  criminal  usurpation  robbed  it  of  its 
sacred  character  after  that  hour  which  she  calls  her 
vespers.  Hence,  by  believing  too  much,  she  has 
multiplied  holidays  until  the  spiritual  character  and 
rest  of  the  Lord's  day  is  unknown  to  her  people. 

Her  supreme  Head,  in  endeavoring  to  "  wear  out 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  has  thought  to  change 
times."  In  doing  so  he  has  given  to  his  votaries, 
not  one  whole  day  in  seven,  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  God,  but  one  for  each  of  those  beatified 
persons,  who  being  dead  at  least  fifty  years,  and  of 
whom,  "before  the  Holy  Father"  and  "their  emi- 
nences," a  "  consistorial  advocate "  has  made  a 
panegyric,  detailing  his  life  and  miracles;  which 
being  done,  his  canonization  is  decreed  by  "  his 
holiness,  and  his   day  appointed  in  the  calendar." 

(132) 


THE    SANCTIFICATION    OF    THE    SABBATH.        133 

Thus  the  remaining  days  of  secular  time  grow 
"  beautifully  less ; "  and  as  saints'  days  and  holidays 
are  appointed  and  increased  by  "  the  man  of  sin," 
so  the  sacred  first  day  of  the  week  becomes  pro- 
portionably  profaned.  In  many  Papal  countries  it 
has  consequently  become,  to  a  great  extent  at  least, 
"a  day  of  sports  and  games,  of  bullbaiting  in  some 
and  cockfighting  in  others.  Under  Papal  prelacy 
the  appointments  of  "  the  church,"  by  tradition 
and  a  superabundant  credulity,  make  void  the  law 
of  God,  and  laugh  Him  to  scorn  who  has  said, 
"  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy." 

The  church  of  England,  following  in  the  foot- 
steps of  her  predecessor,  has  had  at  times  her  "  Book 
of  Sports,"  while  in  her  stereotyped  ritual  we  find 
some  Sabbaths  kept  above  and  beyond  the  authority 
of  God,  under  the  heathen  name  of  Sunday,  such 
as  Easter  day,  Advent  Sunday,  Rogation  Sunday, 
Whit  Sunday,  and  some  half  dozen  others,  to- 
gether with  "  a  table  of  feasts,"  extending  beside 
the  Sabbath  to  some  twenty-seven  secular  days. 

The  appointment  and  retaining  of  these  various 
days,  under  this  form  of  church  government,  has 
the  universal  effect  of  both  depreciating  the  au- 
thority of  God,  and  then  increasing  proportionably 
the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  spiritual 
rest.  These  results  are  discoverable  both  in  the 
house  of  prayer  and  in  the  dwellings  of  many  of 
those  who  under  this  regimen  profess  Christianity. 

Reduced  to  a  common  level  with  other  denomina- 
12  • 


134  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

tions  in  the  United  States,  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church  does  not  retain  precisely  all  the 
"  days "  observed  by  the  Anglican  church ;  yet  of 
them  she  has  an  unscriptural  superabundance, 
which  Puseyism  is  careful  not  to  diminish,  and 
of  which  it  may  be,  that  in  proportion  as  the  civil 
strength,  of  which  she  was  once  shorn,  returns,  she 
may  yet  fully  avail  herself.*  "  Coming  events 
cast  their  shadows  before." 

In  few  points,  if  any,  is  the  Presbyterian  form 
of  church  government  more  strongly  contrasted 
with  the  Episcopal  than  in  its  influences  on  the 
sanctification  of  the  Sabbath  day.  While  the  latter 
teaches  all  her  worshippers  to  "  remember  the  Sab- 
bath day,  to  keep  it  holy,"  the  former  is  also  care- 
ful with  this  to  teach  to,  and  to  enforce  upon,  all  her 
people  how  "  the  Sabbath  is  to  be  sanctified  by  a 
holy  resting  all  that  day,  even  from  such  worldly 
employments  and  recreations  as  are  lawful  on  other 
days,  and  in  spending  the  whole  time  in  the  public 
and  private  exercises  of  God's  worship,  excepting 
so  much  as  may  be  taken  up  in  the  works  of 
necessity  and  mercy."  They  are  also  early  in- 
formed that  "  the  fourth  commandment  forbids  the 
omission  or  careless  performance  of  the  duties  re- 
quired, and  the  profaning  of  the  day  by  idleness,  or 


*  In  proof,  the  governor  of  Connecticut,  the  most  Episcopal  state 
in  the  Union,  appoints,  at  her  request,  his  annual  fast  on  good  Friday  ; 
and  witness  the  growing  observation  of  Christmas  as  a  holiday  through- 
out the  once  Puritan  New  England. 


'HE  SANCTIFICATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.    135 

by  doing  that  which  is  in  itself  sinful,  or  by  un- 
necessary thoughts,  words,  or  works  about  their 
worldly  employments  and  recreations;"  that  the 
name  is  given  by  God  himself,  and  that  that  day 
can  never  be  lawfully  called  Sunday.  These  things 
this  radical  division  of  the  church  teaches  diligently 
to  her  children,  by  her  pastors,  her  ruling  elders,  and 
by  parents,  who  speak  of  them  publicly  and 
privately,  and  restrain  officially  those  over  whom 
they  have  the  authority,  who  would  profane  the 
day  by  idleness,  or  by  doing  that  which  is  in  itself 
sinful.  In  order  that  the  whole  time  may  be  de- 
voted to  God,  she  has  her  private  and  public  ex- 
ercises of  divine  worship  so  scripturally  arranged 
that  in  early  years,  in  matured  life,  and  under  old 
age  alike,  the  sacred  Sabbath  may  be  a  day  of 
spiritual  rest,  "  holy  to  the  Lord  and  honorable." 
To  those  who  believe  in  this  form  of  regimen  it 
forms  "  the  golden  hours  "  of  time ;  and  finding  no 
command  nor  fair  deduction  from  Scripture  war- 
ranting them  to  keep  any  other  day,  whether  (in 
honor  of  the  Saxon  goddess  Eostre,  that  is,  the 
Prelatic)  "  Easter,"  "  the  Holy  Innocents,"  or  of 
"  St.  Michael  and  all  the  angels,"  they  believe 
that  "  festival  days,  vulgarly  called  holydays,  having 
no  warrant  in  the  word  of  God,  are  not  to  be 
observed."  Still  by  them  it  is  considered  lawful, 
and  may  be  expedient,  "  upon  special  emergent  oc- 
casions, to  separate  a  day,  or  days,  for  public  fast- 
ing or  thanksgiving,  as  the  several   extraordinary 


136  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

dispensations  of  God's  providence  shall  administer 
cause  and  opportunity  to  his  people." 

Thus  both  in  the  name  and  in  the  manner  of 
sanctifying  the  Sabbath  day,  either  form  of  church 
government  may  be  traced  by  its  specific  results. 
The  popular  and  respective  influences  of  each  form 
have  been  often  noticed,  declared,  and  certified  by 
travellers  who  (to  their  own  shame)  have  been 
found  journeying  from  England  to  Scotland,  or  vice 
versa,  on  this  day.  So  obvious  has  the  line  of  de- 
marcation become  by  the  practices  of  "  the  border- 
ers," that  an  observing  traveller  can,  without 
difficulty,  distinguish  the  Sabbath  among  Pres- 
byterians from  the  Sunday  of  the  Anglican  church. 
In  harvest  days  especially,  the  fields  will  usually 
declare  the  difference. 

But  little  variation  in  the  sanctification  of  the 
Sabbath  day  can  be  discovered  between  true 
Presbyterians  in  any  country  and  age ;  between 
the  Puritans,  Nonconformists,  and  early  Dissenters 
in  England,  and  the  colonists  in  New  England. 
While  it  is  descriptive  of  the  conduct  of  Presbyte- 
rians at  the  present  day  in  much  of  Scotland,  and 
in  parts  of  the  Province  of  Ulster  in  Ireland,  I  here 
present  from  the  Rev.  Henry  White  a  sketch  of  the 
manner  in  which,  in  New  England,  for  the  first  one 
century  and  a  half  after  its  settlement  by  the  Pil- 
grims, the  Sabbath  was  sanctified. 

"  They  observed  the  Sabbath  with  great  serious- 
ness.    They  prepared  for  its  approach  by  a  season- 


IHE    SANCTIFICATIOxN    OF    THE    SABBATH.        137 

able  adjustment  of  their  temporal  affairs;  they  wel- 
comed its  arrival  with  joy,  and  spent  all  its  hours 
in  the  public  and  private  duties  of  religion.  A 
sacred  stillness  reigned  in  their  habitations,  and 
throughout  their  villages  and  towns,  well  befitting 
the  day  of  God,  and  well  calculated  to  raise  the 
affections  and  thoughts  to  the  eternal  rest  of 
heaven." 

Few,  very  few,  unless  circumstances  beyond  their 
control  required  that  they  should  remain  at  home, 
absented  themselves  from  the  house  of  God. 
"Four  fifths  of  the  people,  it  is  believed,  uniformly 
attended  public  worship."  Of  the  inhabitants  of 
Northampton,  Massachusetts,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dwight 
says,  "  Probably  no  people  were  ever  more  punctual 
in  their  attendance  upon  public  worship  than  they 
were  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  from  the  first 
settlement  of  the  place."  "  The  customs  of  the 
churches  "  were  then  in  keeping  with  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, and  New  England  was  then  the  New 
England  on  which  the  Christian  heart  delights  to 
meditate,  and  in  doing  so  dilates  with  joy. 

Modern  Congregationalism,  as  we  have  seen, 
has  its  influence  on  doctrine  and  on  worship,  public 
and  private.  With  these  it  has  left  likewise  its 
impression  on  the  Sabbath.  Not  only  has  it  made 
sad  approaches  to  rationalistic  ideas  in  relation  to 
some  of  the  other  doctrines  of  God  our  Savior,  but 
it  has  also,  in  some  departments,  such  as  among 
the  Unitarians,  Universalists,  and  others,  introduced 
12* 


138  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  idea,- that  all  time  is  equally, sacred,  that  "the 
Sabbath  "  being  "  made  for  man,"  it  must  be  only 
for  his  refreshing,  as  sleep  and  food  are  recupera- 
tive to  his  wearied  energies,  mental  and  bodily. 
Hence,  while  a  great  degree  of  external  Sabbath 
sanctification  may  be  discovered  in  many  places, 
multitudes  rest  upon  that  day  from  the  toil  of  life ; 
not  because  God  has  said,  "  Remember  the  Sab- 
bath day,  to  keep  it  holy,"  but  because  custom  and 
the  necessities  of  our  nature  require  its  observance ; 
not  for  the  glory  of  God,  but  for  the  good  of  the 
creature. 

Hence,  where,  in  relation  to  the  word  of  God, 
men  believe  too  little,  a  variety  of  encroachments 
upon  its  observance  are  not  unfrequent.  Not  only 
do  some  sects,  under  this  division,  change  the  day 
wholly,  as  at  Westerly,  Rhode  Island,  where  one 
portion  of  the  inhabitants  profess  to  keep  the 
seventh  and  the  other  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
but  many  matters  considered  of  minor  importance, 
and  less  than  full  labor,  are  attended  to  on  that  day, 
in  order,  in  the  common  phraseology,  "to  save 
time."  Consequently,  in  the  week,  we  often  find 
four  days  of  uniform  length  in  labor,  two  long  ones, 
the  business  of  Saturday  being  protracted  far  to- 
wards the  Sabbath,  and  the  morning  of  Monday 
finding  men  earlier  awake  than  that  of  any  other 
of  the  seven,  while  "  the  Lord's  day,"  by  the  toil 
of  an  entire  week  and  a  late  Saturday  evening, 
becomes  during  more  of  its  hours  than  any  other 


THE    SANCTIFICATION    OF    THE    SABBATH.        139 

a  day  of  animal  rest,  not  only  by  protracted  morn- 
ing slumbers,  but  also  by  earlier  retirement  at  night. 
"  What  a  weariness  is  it ! "  "  When  will  the  Sab- 
bath be  gone,  that  we  may  set  forth  wheat  ?  "  or 
follow  our  usual  occupations  without  restraint? 
Abandoning  the  old  way  described  above,  and  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  some  departments  of  Prel- 
acy, modern  Congregationalism,  in  one  at  least  of 
its  high  places,  the  city  of  the  Puritans,  indulges  oc- 
casionally in  a  public  display  of  sentimental  music 
on  the  Sabbath  evening,  the  tendency  of  which  is 
to  divest  the  day  of  rest  of  its  sacred  character, 
and  to  make  it  simply  a  feast  of  intellectual  pleas- 
ure. Hence  says  a  quotation  by  and  from  the 
New  York  Observer  of  January  20,  1853:  — 

" '  Alboxi.  —  On  Sunday  next  this  accomplished 
vocalist  will  give  a  treat  to  the  religious  world, 
by  producing  the  Stabat  Mater  and  the  Prayer 
from  Moses  in  Egypt,  with  the  whole  strength 
of  her  company,  assisted  by  Pico  and  others. 
At  Boston  her  Sunday  concerts  were  crowded.' 
We  deeply  regret  tor  see  that  the  friends  of  Alboni 
have  encouraged  her  to  attempt  this  innovation 
upon  the  habits  and  principles  of  this  city,  [New 
York.]  In  Boston  the  practice  of  observing  Satur- 
day evening  as  sacred  may  afford  to  some  an 
apology,  but  here  there  is  no  excuse  for  it.  To 
pretend  that  it  is  designed  for  religious  people  is  all 
a  sham." 

That  such  a  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  is  de- 


140  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

plored  by  every  pious  person  in  Boston  is  most 
certain ;  but  the  above  fact  shows  how  the  hand  of 
church  government  moulds  the  sanctification  of  the 
Sabbath  in  a  city  where,  previously  to  1846,  (ex- 
cepting during  a  short  period,)  a  Presbyterian 
church  had  not  existed  for  sixty  years. 

The  proof  is  also  doubled,  if  we  remember  that  it 
"  is  all  a  sham  "  to  pretend  that  such  exhibitions  are 
designed  for  religious  people  in  New  York,  where, 
until  within  about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  Congre- 
gationalism was  almost  totally  unknown. 


CHAPTER    XT. 

THEIR  RESPECTIVE  INFLUENCES  ON  THE  MINISTRY 
AND   PULPIT. 

In  the  varied  arrangements  of  divine  Providence 
in  human  affairs,  men  are  "  workers  together  with 
God."  What  man  can  do,  both  for  the  glory  of 
his  Maker  and  the  promotion  of  his  own  interests, 
temporal  and  eternal,  by  the  use  of  that  ability, 
and  all  those  appliances  which  his  Creator  has 
given  to  him,  it  is  alike  duty  and  privilege  to 
undertake. 

That  all  men  cooperate  with  Him  is  true,  not 
only  of  the  ungodly,  who  "  treasure  up  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath,"  and  become,  by  their 
own  concurrence  and  labors  in  the  service  of  sin, 
"  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction,"  but  it  is  true 
also  in  relation  to  all  who  are  "  made  partakers  of 
the  divine  nature,"  by  being  brought  experiment- 
ally within  the  covenant  of  grace.  Hence  to  them 
the  injunction  is  given,  "  Work  out  your  own  salva- 
tion, for  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  you,  both  to  will 
and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure."  This  is  not,  how- 
ever, the  whole  extent  of  their  agency;  they  are  to 
"do  good  as  they  have  opportunity  to    all   men, 

(141) 


142  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

especially  to  those  who  are  of  the  household  of 
faith ; "  and  while  no  higher  good  can  be  done  by 
them  to  others  than  that  of  "  teaching  every  man 
his  neighbor  to  know  the  Lord,"  yet  it  has  not  been 
made  the  duty  of  every  professing  Christian  to 
"preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of    Christ." 

The  office  of  the  ministry  is  of  and  from  our  Re- 
deemer, the  Prophet  of  the  church,  who,  "  when  he 
ascended  up  on  high,"  having  purchased  them  by 
his  holy  life  and  cheerful  obedience  unto  death, 
"  gave  gifts  unto  men."  "  He  gave  some  apostles, 
and  some  prophets,  and  some  evangelists,  and  some 
pastors  and  teachers,  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the 
body  of  Christ."  In  relation  to  these  "  servants  of 
the  most  high  God,  who  show  unto  us  the  way  of 
salvation,"  no  two  of  our  three  radical  divisions 
entertain  the  same  views.  This  will  apply  to  their 
official  authority,  agency,  standing,  and  dignity. 
Among  those  who  believe  in  an  apostolical  succes- 
sion as  the  only  legal  way  of  investiture  with  office, 
where  this  has  been  obtained,  an  overgrown  faith 
places  those  who  profess  to  be  the  servants  of  all 
men  for  Jesus'  sake  far  above  their  fellow-mortals. 
In  the  whole  prelatic  scale  which  has  been  pre- 
viously presented,  this  supposed  elevation  grows 
with  an  advance  in  the  hierarchy  from  the  sub- 
deacon  to  the  pope,  and  is  most  readily  discovered 
in  a  bishop  and  the  higher  "  orders."  This  order 
of  faith  is  surcharged  with  the  opinion  that  supreme 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  143 

ecclesiastical  authority  was  conveyed  to  St.  Peter  * 
before  he  had  manifested  any  more  efficient  agency 
than  his  fellow-apostles,  and  that  this  rule  and  do- 
minion over  them,  as  well  as  over  the  whole  church 
of  God  on  the  earth,  was  an  act  of  sovereignty 
unequalled  towards  any  other.  While,  as  such  sup- 
pose, it  was  given  to  him  and  his  successors  in  the 
pontifical  chair  at  Rome  alone,  this  authority  in- 
creases not  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  usefulness, 
labors,  or  privations  in  the  work  of  the  ministry 
at  all. 

Invested  with  this  absolute  authority,  the  agency 
of  such  ecclesiastics  in  the  Papal  church  does  not, 
in  all  cases,  either  in  the  effectual  application  of  the 
means  of  grace  or  the  distribution  of  prelatic 
power,  depend  upon  the  faith  of  the  ruled,  or  the 
operation  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  upon  the  inten- 
tion, the  animus  imponentis  of  him  who  thus  au- 
thoritatively officiates.  Indeed,  the  phrase  "means 
of  grace,"  under  Papal  prelacy,  is  entirely  a  mis- 
nomer ;  for  the  salvation  of  the  simple  faithful  of 
her  fold  depend  not  upon  the  imputation  of  "the 
righteousness  of  God  "  for  the  pardon  of  sin  and  the 
acceptance  of  it  by  the  exercise  of  that  "  faith  which 
is  of  the  operation  of  God,"  and  which  "comes  by 
hearing"  his  word,  but  rather  upon  the  sacredness  and 
efficiency  of  her  priests,  altars,  sacrifice  of  the  mass, 
and  the  supposed  intercession  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 

*  See  Appendix,  C. 


144  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

of  saints,  and  of  angels.  As  there  are  but  two 
orders  of  the  priesthood  recognized  in  Scripture,  to 
one  of  these,  if  they  can  with  a  shadow  of  justice 
lay  claim  to  the  name,  all  the  priests  of  prelacy 
(whether  Papal,  Oriental,  or  Anglican)  must  be- 
long; that  is,  they  must  be  priests  "forever  after 
the  order  of  Melchisedeck,"  or  "  after  the  order  of 
Aaron." 

While  these  and  other  arrangements  of  "the 
church  "  are  at,  or  on,  the  usual  times  of  their  public 
worship  substituted  in  place  of  the  command  of 
Christ,  "  Go  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature," 
still  on  some  occasions,  especially  great  ones,  her 
clergy  preach.  Thus  at  the  second  national  council 
of  the  Papal  church  in  the  United  States,  held  at 
Baltimore,  May  9,  1852,  "  the  council  was  opened 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  after  other  ap- 
pointed ceremonies,"  (after  "the  reading  of  the 
decree  of  the  council  of  Trent,  touching  the  profes- 
sion of  faith,  at  the  conslusion  of  a  grand  high 
mass,")  "  Archbishop  Hughes  entered  the  pulpit, 
and  read  from  the  tenth  chapter  of  John —  '  Christ  is 
the  door  and  the  shepherd.'  The  reverend  gentleman 
then  proceeded  to  deliver  a  very  eloquent  sermon."  * 

Although  Protestant  Episcopalians  do  not  ven- 
ture fully  into  this  quagmire  of  tradition,  imagina- 
tion, and  presumption,  yet  it  has  ever  been  difficult 
with  them  to  sever  the  hair  at  the  right  joint,  and 

*  Despatch  to  Boston  Traveller. 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  145 

tell  precisely  the  extent  of  prelatic  agency  in  ordi- 
nation, in  the  consecration  of  the  sacramental  em- 
blems, churches,  graveyards,  and  in  confirmation. 
So  "  holy  "  are  their  "  orders,"  that  they  ply  their 
opponents  with  an  argument  powerfully  employed 
(as  we  have  seen)  by  the  immersing  Congregation- 
alists.  By  an  exercise  of  common  charity,  it  is 
supposed  that  those  who  have  been  so  authorita- 
tively raised  to  office,  and  to  the  thread  of  apostolic 
succession,  must  of  necessity  be,  and  are,  truly 
ministers  of  Christ.  The  argument  runs  thus  to 
Independents  and  Presbyterians :  "  You  admit  that 
our  ordination  of  deacons,  priests,  and  bishops  is 
valid,  and  that  they  are  ministers  of  the  gospel ;  we 
deny  your  ordination  to  be  valid,  and  of  any  au- 
thority at  all ;  it  is  then  more  safe,  better,  wiser  for 
you  now  to  submit  to  us,  and  then,  even  on  your 
own  admission,  all  will  be  well.  We  alone  can 
ordain  with  validity,  and  we  deny  the  right  of  your 
ministers  to  preach,  and  we  deny  the  validity  of 
the  sacraments  when  dispensed  by  them."  *     These 

*  That  many  godly  men  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  the 
United  States  feel  and  speak  differently  is  true ;  but  they  are  the  ex- 
ceptions ;  this  is  the  general  rule.  While  the  High  Church  party 
fraternize  strongly  with  Popery,  the  Low  Church  (so  designated)  pro- 
fess not  to  be  exclusive.  Hence,  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lewis,  rector  of 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Brooklyn,  New  York,  "While  a  chief 
characteristic  of  our  church  is  opposition  to  Pome,  she  is  in  harmony 
with  all  evangelical  communions,  and  does  not  condemn  their  minis- 
try, sacraments,  and  worship.  But  our  conscientious  views  of  the 
ministry  oblige  us  to  receive  none  in  our  oxen  church  except  such  as 
have  been  Emscopallv  ordained.    We  judge  not  the  ministrv  of  others, 

13 


146  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

arrogant  claims  implied  in  prelacy,  if  not  always  ex- 
pressed viva  voce,  usually  clothe  her  priesthood  with 
an  imaginary  standing  and  dignity  far  above  what 
the  world  commonly  bestows  upon  the  ministry  of 
her  opponents.* 

Between  them  and  the  common  people,  whom 
they  are  pleased  to  call  "  the  laity,"  there  exists  no 
inconsiderable  gulf.  The  many  are  made  to  sub- 
serve the  interests  of  the  few,  while  these  too 
frequently  lord  it  over  God's  heritage,  notwith- 
standing that  into  conventions  for  directing  their 
public  religious  matters,  a  lay  delegate  from  each 
church  is  permitted  to  enter;  for  above" these  "in- 
ferior clergy  "  and  lay  delegates  of  the  lower  house 
arises  the  house  of  bishops,  who  sanction  or  coun- 
tercheck the  doings  of  the  convention  at  their 
pleasure.  Placed  by  a  bishop,  at  the  request  of  a 
parish,  over  a  church,  (by  the  delivery  of  the  key 
and  other  ceremonies,)  an  Episcopal  clergyman 
usually  maintains  a  conservative  dignity  which 
often  contrasts  strongly  with  the  dependent  condi- 


but  for  ourselves  we  can  receive  none  but  sucb  as  are  called  in  what  we 
deem  the  divinely-appointed  way."  —  New  York  Observer,  Dec,  1852. 

*  Hence,  when  Bishop  Hughes,  as  an  American  citizen,  went  to 
Washington  to  obtain  his  passport  to  visit  his  "  holy  father,"  to  whom 
in  soul  and  body  he  had  sworn  allegiance,  he  dined  with  President 
Fillmore.  The  venerable  and  Rev.  Dr.  Dana,  with  his  Huguenot  name 
and  soul,  might  have  visited  from  Newburyport  the  metropolis  seven 
times  on  business  equally  conducive  to  our  national  well  being,  without 
tasting  salt  at  the  executive  table.  He  is,  however,  simply  a  Presby- 
terian clergyman,  and  has  never  received  the  thread  of  apostolic  suc- 
cession through  Roderic  Borgia,  alias  Pope  Alexander  VI. 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  147 

tion  of  many  Congregationalist  ministers,  and  has 
in  some  of  its  best  points  of  view  a  healthful 
influence  on  social  relations,  ecclesiastical  and 
domestic. 

Although  the  elevation  to  a  bishopric  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church  appears  to  be  made  in 
a  popular  manner,  yet  its  "  lay  members  have  no 
part  nor  connection  with  its  governmental  organi- 
zation, and  never  had."  The  clergy  retain  all 
power  of  "  governmental  organization "  in  their 
own  hands,  and  if  not  in  the  name,  at  least  by  the 
authority  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  determine  who 
shall  be  their  bishops. 

Between  the  way  in  which  the  conclave  at  Rome 
fill  (when  it  has  become  vacant)  the  papal  see, 
and  the  manner  of  elevating  one  of  their  clergy  to 
a  bishopric,  among  the  Episcopal  Methodists  there 
exist  some  strong  points  of  resemblance.  Having, 
as  an  oligarchy  in  this  near  approach  to  absolutism, 
departed  far  from  apostolic  simplicity  when  "  they 
ordained  them  elders  in  every  church,"  who  were 
"made  by  the  Holy  Ghost  (Acts  xx.  28)  overseers," 
or  bishops  of  a  single  "  flock,"  their  people  become 
clamorous  for  some  part  and  connection  in  their 
"governmental"  matters;  but  to  yield  an  equitable 
share  to  them,  or,  in  other  words,  to  give  them  a 
scriptural  representation,  that  is,  "  ruling  elders," 
would  destroy  this  pyramid  of  prelacy  and  of  post- 
humous fame.  Consequently,  the  superabundance 
of  faith  on  which  this  species  'of   Episcopacy  is 


148  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

erected  is  obviously  without  a  perfect  foundation  in 
Scripture.  Their  powers,  both  of  ordination  and 
of  rule,  as  we  have  seen,  rest  upon  the  Rev.  John 
Wesley,  who  had  the  "  exclusive  power  *  to  appoint 
when,  and  where,  and  how  his  societies  should 
meet,"  and  "  to  appoint  each  preacher  when,  and 
where,  and  how  to  labor."  "  The  disciple  is  not 
above  his  master,  nor  the  servant  above  his  lord." 
The  founder  of  this  superstructure  was  possessed 
of  much  worldly  wisdom,  and  instead  of  appoint- 
ing each  of  his  preachers  to  act  as  a  permanent 
pastor  to  one  church,  the  establishment  of  a  system 
of  itinerancy  much  more  largely  subserves  his  own 
posthumous  fame,  both  by  gratifying  the  novelty  of 
his  people,  and  enabling  his  ministry  to  constantly 
propagate  his  faith,  with  a  less  amount  of  literary 


*  To  show  how  he  obtained  his  fibre  of  the  cord  of  apostolical  suc- 
cession, I  direct  the  reader  to  the  following  questions,  contained  in  the 
letter  (on  his  translation  of  Zanchius)  of  the  Rev.  Augustus  Toplady 
to  the  Rev.  John  Wesley.     (Ed.  London,  1770.) 

"  Was  not  Erasmus,  who  styled  himself  Bishop  of  Arcadia,  and 
passed  for  a  prelate  of  the  Greek  church,  requested  by  you  to  ordain 
several  of  your  lay  preachers  according  to  the  manner  of  which  he 
called  the  Greek  church  ? 

"  Did  they  not  dress  and  officiate  as  clergymen  of  the  church  of 
England  in  consequence  of  that  ordination  ? 

11  Did  not  you  declare  their  ordination  as  valid  as  your  own,  which 
you  received  at  Oxford  forty  years  ago  ? 

"  Did  you  not  strongly  press  this  Greek  to  consecrate  you  a  bishop 
at  large,  to  ordain  what  ministers  you  pleased  ? 

"  And  did  he  not  refuse,  because  it  required  more  than  one  bishop  to 
be  present  at  the  ordination  of  a  bisbop  ?  " 

Has  the  "  tactual  succession  "  never  been  communicated  by  one 
bishop  ?    Mark  xiv.  59.    See  Appendix,  C. 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  149 

and  theological  capital.  It  is  comparatively  a  much 
more  easy  matter  to  excite  the  attention  of  an  au- 
dience for  twenty-four  months,  on  the  peculiar 
points  of  Arminian  speculation,  than  to  preach  to 
the  same  people  "  the  whole  counsel  of  God "  for 
many  years. 

Where  men  believe  more  than  the  Bible  alone 
teaches,  this  belief  produces  specific  effects,  both  on 
the  ministry  and  "laity.,"  Under  such  an  arrange- 
ment, "  the  church,"  "  our  church,"  becomes  the 
prominent  object  of  attention,  and  the  doctrine,  as 
to  its  scriptural  purity,  becomes  then  and  there  a 
secondary  consideration. 

The  ministry  among  Presbyterians  have  no  ab- 
solute authority,  as  "lords  over  God's  heritage." 
Where  all  are  on  a  scriptural  equality  in  office,  they 
"  call  no  man  rabbi,"  and  are  forbidden  to  be 
"  called  masters,  for  one  is  their  Master,  even  Christ, 
and  all  they  are  brethren."  As  in  every  session,  or 
congregational  church  court,  each  minister  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  plurality  of  ruling  elders,  and  as  in 
every  presbytery,  and  in  every  synod,  unless  they 
violate  their  constitution,  "  each  minister  is  attended 
by  a  ruling  elder,"  whose  vote  in  determining  any 
question  is  of  equal  importance  to  their  own,  so  they 
cannot  by  possibility,  while  they  honor  their  avowed 
principles,  either  impose  unscriptural  burdens  upon 
their  people  without  their  consent,  nor  be  driven  by 
popular  pressure  from  a  conscientious  performance 
of  duty  in  taking  "  care  of  the  house  of  God." 
13* 


150  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Not  only  have  they  obtained  "  power  "  for  "  the 
work  of  the  ministry,"  "  by  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  the  presbytery,"  but  the  people  of  their 
charge  being  under  the  same  jurisdiction,  and 
promising  to  them  "  all  due  support,  honor,  and  en- 
couragement in  the  Lord,"  when  they  ask  for  their 
services  from  the  presbytery,  —  such  a  ministry  have 
not  only  an  independence  of  position,  by  which, 
where  it  is  enjoyed,  they  may  magnify  their  office, 
but  also  between  them  and  their  people  who  hold 
"  them  highly  in  love,"  not  for  their  supposed  pre- 
latic  powers,  nor  for  personal  beauty,  nor  melody 
of  voice,  nor  for  smartness,  but  "  for  ttheir  works' 
sake,"  a  relation  is  thus  established  in  which  many 
of  the  warmest  affections  of  the  soul  are  enlisted. 

To  them  the  direction  is,  "  Take  heed  to  the  doc- 
trine," "  preach  the  word,"  teach  publicly,  and  from 
house  to  house,  "  feed  the  flock."  By  giving  them- 
selves wholly  to  "the  work  of  the  ministry,"  they 
are  enabled  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth,  at 
the  same  time  the  people  of  their  charge  "remem- 
ber them  who  have  spoken  to  them  the  word  of 
God,"  and  "  obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  them." 
While  a  dutiful  people  will  desire,  and  pray,  and 
labor,  that  of  them  their  pastor  may  render  his 
final  "  account  with  joy,  and  not  with  grief,"  (for 
that  would  be  unprofitable  for  them,)  this  consider- 
ation prompts  powerfully  (with  many  others)  to 
pastoral  diligence. 

Where  a  Presbyterian  ministry  are  sustained,  and 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT^  151 

are  faithful,  the  "  things  which  are  lovely,  and  hon- 
est, and  of  good  report "  are  more  extensively  seen 
than  elsewhere;  and  where  honor  is  thus  rendered 
to  whom  honor  is  due,  such  are  the  principles  of 
social  equality  inculcated  and  practised,  that  they 
can,  as  pastor,  families,   and  people,  say, — 

"  Behold,  how  good  a  thing  it  is, 
And  how  becoming  well, 
Together  such  as  brethern  are, 
In  unity  to  dwell,"  &c,  &c. 

While,  as  we  have  seen,  one  division  believes  in 
episcopal  ordination,  and  another  in  "  the  laying  on 
of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery,"  and  that  each  form 
produces  specific  results  in  "  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try," we  now  proceed  to  survey  briefly  some  of  the 
influences  of  the  third  order  of  church  government 
upon  ministerial  character  and  usefulness. 

In  this  division,  no  apostolic  succession  nor  Pres- 
byterial  agency  conveys  the  "  power  "  to  teach,  (for 
rule  their  ministry  assuredly  do  not,)  it  comes  from 
the  social  "  compact."  An  inspired  charge  to  a 
minister  of  Christ  was,  "  These  things  commit  thou 
to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others 
also  ; "  yet  the  "  things  committed  "  to  teachers  of 
this  order  originate  not  with  "  the  chief  Shep- 
herd," and  come  not  by  "  apostles,  ministers, 
nor  elders,"  but  from  the  people,  the  sheep  them- 
selves. As  the  Protestant  Episcopalians  must  in 
convention  borrow  from  Presbyterians  the  presence 
of  lay  delegates,  and  at  the  Papal  council  at  Balti- 


152  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

more  each  bishop  was  attended  by  an  ecclesiastic, 
and  as  all  the  young  men  and  maidens,  sires  and 
matrons,  belonging  to  a  Congregational  church, 
might  not  be  deeply  skilled  in  the  original  lan- 
guages of  the  sacred  volume,  nor  very  familiar  with 
church  history,  —  although,  in  their  own  estima- 
tion, the  only  correct  judges  of  doctrine,  —  so,  for 
convenience  sake,  an  association  or  council  is  gen- 
erally requested  to  act  in  the  case,  in  order  to  secure 
a  decent  Presbyterial  appearance ;  and  so  both  ex- 
tremes, with  their  specific  pretensions,  must  borrow 
from  Presbytery. 

Associations  and  councils  have  generally  so  far 
borrowed  from  Presbyterianism  as  to  say  when 
a  young  man  was  qualified  to  preach  the  gospel,  as  a 
probationer  for  the  holy  ministry,  and  have  usually 
given  him  the  power  so  to  do  ;  but  this  gives  offence 
to  true  Congregationalists,  who  desire  to  have  him, 
not  licensed  to  preach  by  clergymen  as  such  at  all, 
but  "  approbated  by  a  church  or  churches,"  that  is, 
by  the  men  and  women  of  one  society,  or  of  sev- 
eral societies.  When,  again,  a  preacher  has  secured 
their  choice,  and  a  congregation  desire  to  have  him 
act  as  their  pastor,  "  letters  missive "  from  their 
"  scribe  "  summon  any  chosen  number  of  pastors, 
and  other  delegates  from  other  churches,  to  convey 
from  said  associated  church  members  to  him  the 
power  of  dispensing  sealing  ordinances. 

If  these  should  find  him  unsound  in  the  faith, 
and  falter  in  the  process,  they  are  liable  to  hear  the 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  153 

stern  words  of  their  employers,  "  We  ask  you  now 
to  ordain  that  man,  but  we  will  not  ask  you  again." 
The  "  power  "  to  be  conveyed  by  ordination  being 
in  their  own  hands,  they  well  know  that  a  council, 
as  numerous  as  they  may  desire,  can  be  at  any  time 
convened  by  "  letters  missive,"  and  that  their  own 
type  of  theological  opinion  is  that  which  they  must 
have  in  a  preacher.  It  must  be  "  like  people,  like 
priest." 

It  is  not,  then,  from  any  bishop  nor  presbytery 
that  a  modern  Congregation alist  preacher  derives 
his  ecclesiastical  standing,  but  virtually  from  the 
vote  of  those  whom  he  addresses ;  and  this  applies 
both  to  his  power  of  ordination  and  of  rule.  In 
other  words,  he  possesses  neither ;  the  sovereign  peo- 
ple do  both  for  themselves.  In  proof  of  this,  I  cite 
from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bodwell,  of  Massachusetts,  in 
his  lectures  on  England,  at  the  Masonic  Temple  in 
Boston,  in  1851-2,  who  stated  that  "the  Rev.  Mr. 
Binney,  of  London,  one  of  the  most  popular  In- 
dependent preachers  in  England,  discharges  all  the 
usual  functions  of  a  Congregationalist  minister, 
while  he  steadfastly  refuses  to  be  ordained  in  any 
way  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  and  relies  solely  on 
the  popular  vote  of  his  church  [or  hearers]  for  his 
ministerial  authority." 

In  the  Presbyterial  division,  when  a  minister  is  in 
divine  providence  called  and  transferred  from  one 
charge  to  another,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  necessary 
propriety  to   solemnly  induct  or  install  him,  by  the 


154 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


authority  of  that  court  under  which  he  and  the 
people  who  ask  from  said  presbytery  his  services 
may  have  placed  themselves;  and  few  exercises  are 
more  solemn  and  conducive  to  zeal  in  duty,  and  to 
godly  edifying,  than  those  of  giving  and  hearing 
the  charges  addressed  officially  and  respectively  to 
pastor  and  people,  on  such  occasions,  by  those  who 
"  have  the  rule  over  "  both. 

A  council  summoned  by  "  letters  missive,"  it  is 
true,  usually  gives  to  such  a  settlement,  as  it  directs, 
a  Presbyterial  appearance;  yet  it  is  only  a  coloring, 
and  not  at  all  required  for  the  validity  of  this 
union  among  Congregationalists.  Consequently, 
even  a  council  is  occasionally,  and  might  at  all 
times,  be  considered  unnecessary.  As  the  transac- 
tion arises  but  a  little  above  bargain  and  hire,  it  is 
comparatively  a  private  matter,  and  might  at  all 
times  be  ratified  simply  by  the  employers  and  the 
employed  themselves.  Approaches  to  this  have 
been  made.  According  to  the  public  papers  of  that 
day,  (1848,)  the  pastor  of  the  Rowe  Street  Baptist 
Church,  in  Boston,  was  not  inducted  by  a  very  nu- 
merous council,  nor  by  any  association.  His  prede- 
cessor simply  introduced  him  to  the  church  on  the 
occasion  as  the  object  of  their  choice,  and  they 
then  received  him  as  such* 


*  Miss  Antoinette  L.  Brown  was  ordained  at  South  Butler,  New 
York,  in  September,  1853,  and  introduced  as  the  pastoress  or  shepherdess 
of  a  Baptist  church  there,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nipper,  Rev.  Mr.  Lee,  Rev. 
Mr.  Hicks,  Elder  Coon,  Gerritt  Smith,  and  Mr.  Candee,  one  of  her  own 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  155 

The  teacher  of  the  twenty-eighth  Congregational 
society  of  Boston  was  engaged  in  a  similar  manner, 
but  with  this  greater  degree  of  simplicity,  that  there 
was  no  retiring  predecessor  to  introduce  him  to  his 
hearers.  The  transaction  was  purely  congrega- 
tional, as  no  third  party  tendered  assistance  in  the 
case. 

Where  an  association  thus  ordain  to  a  pastoral 
charge,  the  members,  in  imitation  of  Presbyterians, 
give  usually  to  the  initiated  "  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship," and  their  "  power"  extends  to  the  welcom- 
ing of  him  individually  to  their  pulpits.  This  will 
continue  so  long  as  his  doctrine  may  suit  the  hearers 
in  any  church.  For  The  pastor  to  introduce  beyond 
this,  no  matter  how  good  and  faithful  a  minister  of 
Christ  he  may  be,  he  falls  in  so  far  under  popular 
displeasure.  He  cannot,  however,  hinder  an  un- 
sound or  dangerous   man,  even  if   he    should  (in 


deacons,  all  utter  disbelievers  (according  to  the  public  papers)  in  the 
necessity  of  ordination  to  the  pastoral  work,  and  Mr.  Candee  said  her 
church  did  not  believe  in  it.  Gerritt  Smith  called  her  (Miss  Brown) 
"  wise,  and  strong,  and  good,  and  faithful,  and  trusting,  and  full  of 
love."  As  Presbyterians  are  universally  believers  in  the  inspiration  of 
the  apostle  Paul,  who  said,  "  I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp 
authority,  for  it  is  a  shame  for  women  to  speak  in  the  church,"  so, 
among  them,  such  anomalies  as  a  Popess  Joan,  or  a  Miss  Brown,  could 
not  by  possibility  appear.  The  former  was  the  production  of  a  super- 
abundant faith  and  a  link  in  the  famous  apostolical  succession,  (A.  D. 
855-857  ;)  the  latter  is  a  ramification  of  pure  Congregationalism,  which 
always  believes  less  than  the  whole  word  of  God.  "  A  bishop  must  be 
blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife."  How  then  could  Miss  Joan  be  a 
"holy  father,"  or  Miss  Brown  "render  unto  her  wife  due  benevo- 
lence "  ? 


156  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

apostolic  language)  be  a  "grievous  wolf,"  from  en- 
tering in  and  "  speaking  perverse  things,"  if  the 
people  only  desire  to  hear  him. 

"Where  a  large  proportion  of  a  congregation  are 
already  "  sound  in  the  faith,"  such  a  man  would 
not,  of  course,  be  generally  acceptable,  and  such  an 
occurrence  might  be  very  rare ;  but  in  popular 
churches  it  is  sometimes  otherwise.  As  the  reli- 
gious sentiment  of  a  church  is  usually,  or  at  least 
often,  imbodied  in  an  outline  of  a  few  pages,  drawn 
up  by  such  a  society,  or  some  of  the  most  zealous 
members  themselves,  and  often  expressed  in  such 
general  terms  that  doctrines  widely  apart  from 
each^other,  or  even  contradictory,  may  at  times  be 
taught  out  of  its  elastic  contents,  so  the  preacher 
must  of  necessity  study  the.  tastes  of  his  hearers. 
If  among  them  he  succeed  in  becoming  popular, 
he  is  henceforth  indeed  "  the  angel  of  the  church." 
He  must,  however,  remember  that  even  "  angels" 
have  fallen.  His  character,  usefulness,  and  com- 
fort* are  almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  people ; 
and   there  was   truth    as  well   as   repartee   in  the 

*  The  New  Hampshire  Congregational  Journal,  as  quoted  by  the 
Congregationalist  of  September  30,  1853,  says,  "  We  were  lately  in- 
formed that  a  worthy,  but  poor  minister,  who  was  unable  to  keep  a 
horse,  found  it  desirable  to  exchange  on  a  certain  Sabbath  with  another, 
twenty-five  miles  distant.  He  solicited  of  his  church  members  the  use 
of  a  horse  ;  but  being  uniformly  denied,  he  set  off,  and  travelled  the  dis- 
tance on  foot,  fifty  weary  miles,  over  hills  and  valleys,  under  a  burning 
sun ;  and  yet  the  exchange  was  to  gratify  these  church  members  with 
.the  service  of  a  favorite  minister  in  administering  the  communion!" 
1  John  iii.  17. 


THE    MINISTRY    AXD    PULPIT.  157 

answer  of  a  clergyman  in  England,  when  to  him  a 
stranger  said,  "  Sir,  I  believe  you  are  an  Independ- 
ent clergyman."  "  Not  at  all,"  said  he  ;  "I  am  the 
minister  of  an  Independent  church."  In  such  a  case 
"  the  odds  make  the  difference."  Boston  was  for- 
merly called  "  the  paradise  of  ministers."  The  oc- 
cupants of  Eden  of  old  found  it  not  only  pleasant 
to  a  wish,  but  they  also  discovered  that  their  so- 
journing there  was  very  short ;  and  of  this  experi- 
ence not  a  few  clergymen,  under  the  meridian 
"  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,"  have  in  this  city 
partaken.  During  seven  years  (from  1846  till  May, 
1852,  both  inclusive.)  I  have  seen  thirteen  ministers 
(out  of  formerly  sixteen,  now  (1854)  fourteen  Ortho- 
dox churches)  in  the  Puritan  metropolis,  give  up 
their  charges,  exclusive  of  one  taken  hence  by  death. 
One  of  these,  however,  without  a  formal  separation, 
continues  in  his  office.*  Under  such  an  arrange- 
ment, where  the  vote  of  a  church  virtually  conveys 


*  These  " customs  of  the  churches,"  and  their  "letters  missive," 
bring  largely  into  use  their  borrowed  ••  image  "  of  Presbyterianism,  —  "a 
council."  Hence,  after  chronicling  in  their  paper  of  April  20,  18o4,  the 
"  results  "  of  four,*  the  editors  of  the  Puritan  Recorder  say,  "  We  have 
been  obliged,  as  it  is,  to  keep  back  the  proceedings  of  three  councils  to 
our  next.  The  tendency  of  this  department  in  these  times  is,  we  re- 
gret to  say,  towards  an  '  enormous  development.' "     "Yea,  yea." 

*  One  of  which  was  held  in  "Washington,  D.  C.  In  answer  to  above  twelve  hundred 
"letters  missive,"  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  "  pastors  and  delegates"  assembled, 
and  declared  "that  the  pastor  elect  "  (a  Scotchman  who  had  become  enamored  with  "  the 
customs  of  the  churches  ")  has  not  the  peculiar  adaptedness  to  that  field,  which  would  com- 
mend him,  and  if,  while  cultivated  by  him,  to  the  needful  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  churches 
and  that  he  does  not  accept  the  doctrinal  views  of  the  Orthodox  Congregational  churches 
in  our  country  in  some  inportant  particulars."  —  Puritan  Recorder,  April  27, 1854. 

14 


158  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

to  its  possessor  "  the  ministerial  power,"  the  transi- 
tion from  discharging  the  functions  of  a  pastor  to 
secular  employments,  is  neither  very  formidable  nor 
uncommon ;  and  as  every  minister  must  first  be  re- 
ceived into  membership  of  a  church  in  order  to 
obtain  the  "  power  "  by  its  vote,  and  thus  be  elevated 
to  its  pastorate,  unless  he  be  a  hired  Presbyterian, 
so,  if  the  council  vote  him  at  dismission  a  good 
standing,  he  may  retain  it  in  the  ministry  after  he 
has  resigned  his  pastorate,  and  devote  himself  to 
politics  or  the  bar.  Was  not  the  Hon.  Orin  Fowler, 
of  Fall  River,  who  died  in  Congress  in  1852,  an 
Orthodox  minister  in  full  standing  ?  and  did  not 
another  Orthodox  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Matthew 
Hale  Smith,  preach  in  Chelsea,  and  solemnize  mar- 
riage, at  least  up  to  the  day  of  his  admission  to  the 
Suffolk  bar  ? 

Another  incidental,  yet  far  from  unusual  result 
of  Congregationalism,  is,  that  while  there  is  no 
presbytery  to  "  reject  after  the  second  admonition  " 
those  who  may  become  "  heretics,"  and  to  stop  the 
mouth  of  gainsay ers,  a  popular  man  may  lead  his 
people  away  from  their  doctrinal  foundation  even 
to  the  most  flagrant  errors.  In  this  way  Federal 
Street  church  in  Boston,  and  many  others  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, have  become  Socinian.  "  Ninety  of 
the  Unitarian  churches  in  Massachusetts  were 
originally  Orthodox." 

As  almost  any  man,  who  has  a  popular  address, 
may,  by  the   sanction   of   his   church   or   hearers, 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  159 

become  a  teacher,  so  from  this  order  of  church  gov- 
ernment the  ministry  and  propagators  of  "  divers 
and  strange  doctrines"  have  most  numerously 
arisen,  such  as  Universalists,  Unitarians,  Sweden- 
borgians,  and  Transcendentalists.  Consequently, 
under  modern  Congregationalism,  the  authority, 
standing,  and  efficiency  of  the  ministry  have  greatly 
decreased  from  what  they  were  when,  in  New 
England,  "  the  faces  of  the  elders  were  honored." 

While  -statistics  will  show  how  their  numerical 
ratio  in  relation  to  the  entire  population  has  in- 
creased or  diminished,  and  while  schools  for  their 
prophets  have  been  erected  abundantly,  stores  of 
German  lore  have  been  opened,  and  all  the  appli- 
ances of  professors  appointed  and  sustained,  and 
"the  science  of  theology"  has  become  less  sacred, 
less  recondite,  and  a  more  commonplace  matter; 
yet  ministerial  efficiency  has  sunk  far  down,  in 
comparison  with  what  it  was  in  some  past  periods. 
This  need  not,  however,  be  a  matter  of  astonish- 
ment. A  few,  while  they  continue  to  be  "the 
angels  of  their  churches,"  may  walk  in  soft  raiment, 
and  fare  sumptuously;  but  in  so  many  cases  do 
poverty  and  neglect  beset  the  path  of  aged  min- 
isters, and  drive  them  to  the  west,  or  to  literary,  or 
to  other  secular  employments,  while  talents  vastly 
inferior  in  other  callings  in  life  are  amply  rewarded, 
that  superior  minds  generally  find  other  occupation. 

Again  :  when  a  man  must,  while  acting  as  an 
ambassador  of  Christ,  consent  to  form,  at  times, 


160  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

literally  a  subordinate  functionary  *  to  that  most 
"  sensitive,  and  in  many  cases  most  troublesome  and 
unmanageable  of  all  classes  of  functionaries  —  a 
choir,"  and  when  he  finds  "  it  (in  the  language  of 
the  Rev.  J.  A.  James)  indeed  revolting  to  every 
pious  feeling,  to  see  sometimes  what  characters, 
and  to  hear  what  music,  are  found  in  these  high 
places  of  the  sanctuary,"  that  is,  in  organ  galleries, 
shrewd  discernment  would  naturally,  in  foreseeing 
this  evil,  induce  him  to  hide  himself  from  it,  and  to 
say,  "  Send,  Lord,  by  whom  thou  wilt  send;"  I  do 
not  desire  such  a  ministry. 

The  time  has  been  in  New  England  when  the 
attendance  upon  public  worship  was  almost  univer- 
sal, when  nearly  the  entire  adult  population  made 
a  public  and  usually  a  consistent  profession  of  re- 
ligion, and  when  ministers  were  held  "  highly  in 
love  for  their  works'  sake."  The  stern  Calvinism 
of  the  Cambridge  platform  was  then  believed 
without  qualification  f  by  little  equivocal  "  articles 

*  By  W.  M.,  Esq.,  of  A.,  Massachusetts,  I  have  been  informed  that 
out  of  three  Orthodox  clergymen  who  removed  from  his  native  town, 
(Marlboro',)  under  his  own  observation,  two  assuredly  had  to  leave  be- 
cause the  choir  so  willed  it.  They  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  those 
"  sensitive  functionaries,  the  choir." 

f  "  The  Orthodox  in  New  England,  at  the  present  day,  are  not  charge- 
able with  the  erroneous  opinions  held  by  their  predecessors.  The  im- 
putation of  Adam's  sin  to  his  posterity,  in  any  sense  which  these  words 
naturally  and  properly  convey,  is  a  doctrine  which  we  do  not  believe. 
It  is  common  for  us,  when  we  declare  our  assent  to  the  catechism,  (the 
Assembly's,)  to  do  it  with  an  express  or  implied  restriction."  —  Dr 
Woods's  Letters  to  Unitarians,  p.  44,  1820.  See  "  Andover  Fuss,"  1853. 
Dr.  Woods,  however,  in  a  recent  edition  of  his  works,  professes 


THE    MINISTRY    AND    PULPIT.  161 

of  faith,"  which  often  teach  another  doctrine ;  and 
while  their  pulpits  gave  generally  "  a  certain  sound," 
to  which  their  ruling  elders  were  qualified  to  give  a 
discerning  approval,  they  who  preached  the  gospel 
did  not  only  live  by  the  gospel,  but  they  saw  exten- 
sively, in  proportion  to  their  faithfulness  in  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  "  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  prosper- 
ing in  their  hands."  In  surveying  the  influences  of 
modern  Congregationalism  on  the  ministry  and  on 
the  pulpit,  the  testimony  of  those  who  "  ride  on  the 
whirlwind  and  direct  the  storm,"  who  superintend 
the  very  fountains  of  Orthodoxy,  and  attend  to  its 
purity,  will  not  probably  be  doubted.  We  will  then 
"  ask  counsel  at  Abel,  and  so  end  the  matter."  (2 
Sam.  xx.  18.)  "  It  is,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woods,* 
"  one  of  the  unfavorable  circumstances  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  that  there  is  a  decline  in  the  spirit  and  poiver 
of  preaching"  Says  the  Rev.  Professor  Shephard, 
of  Bangor,f  "  It  seems  to  be  generally  admitted 
that  the  pulpit  has  not  the  power  which  it  once 
had.  Both  in  deep  piety  and  sound  practical  talent 
there  seems  to  be  a  falling  off.  Another  unfortu- 
nate circumstance  is  an  abatement  of  the  fulness 
and  strength  of  doctrine.  Another  enfeebling  de- 
vice is  to  mix  the  truth  with  something  else.  The 
object  of  this  is  to  make  the  truth  more  palatable. 
The  intellect  insists  upon  showing  itself  in  some 

personally  to  believe  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,  or  the  imputation  of 
it,  according  to  the  catechism. 

*  New  York  Observer,  January  20,  1853.  f  Ibid. 

14* 


162  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

curious  feats.  There  must  be  a  display.  There  is 
an  effort  to  make  literary  sermons,  intellectual  ser- 
mons, great  sermons;"  while  of  the  people  he  says, 
"  Many  are  ready  to  cry,  Give  us  something  bril- 
liant, beautiful,  entertaining." 

Again :  the  Rev.  Professor  Park,  of  Andover, 
thus  testifies:  li  The  effectiveness  of  the  pulpit,  in 
comparison  with  other  efficiencies,  has  declined 
among  us  to  an  alarming  extent  within  the  last 
fifty  years."  On  this  point,  the  judgment  of  their 
very  cynosure  cannot  be  doubted  by  New  England 
theologians. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

ON  REVIVALS. 

Connected  with  the  work  of  the  ministry  have 
arisen  what,  in  modern  phraseology,  are  called 
"revivals;"  and  in  relation  to  them  each  division 
affords  a  prismatic  view  appropriately  its  own. 

To  the  stereotype  ritual  of  Popery  they  are 
unknown,  and  they  have  found  no  familiar  nor 
very  favorable  reception  among  Protestant  Epis- 
copalians, while  Methodism,  in  them,  develops 
to  a  great  extent  its  whole  congregational  ele- 
ment. 

By  a  series  of  appliances  widely  different  from 
the  law  of  Christ's  house,  so  arranged  as  to  deeply 
impress  the  feelings,  where  the  understanding  has  not 
been  much  enlightened  in  the  knowledge  of  divine 
truth,  such  as  camp  meetings,  anxious  seats,  and 
clamorous  vociferation,  the  most  excitable  sensi- 
bilities of  our  nature  are  aroused  to  imaginary 
visions  of  glory,  until  a  glow  of  feeling  common 
to  the  human  constitution  is,  at  least  too  often, 
mistaken  for  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
*  Hence,  where  men  "  keep  themselves  in  a  justi- 
fied state,"    and   consequently  justify  themselves, 

(163) 


164  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

these  and  similar  impulses  of  feeling  are  valued  as 
the  one  thing  needful. 

To  encourage  the  process,  hymns  of  a  correspond- 
ing character,  styled  "  revival  hymns,"  have  been 
prepared,  not  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  "  spake  by 
the  mouth  of  David,"  but  by  poetical  genius.  In 
this,  the  wisdom  and  policy  of  the  Rev.  John 
Wesley  appear. 

"  Music  hath  charms  to  soothe  the  savage  breast," 
while  the  matter  sung,  and  the  manner  of  singing 
it,  under  a  nominally  Christian  garb,  may  be  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  savor  but  little  of  "  the  offence  of  the 
cross,"  even  when  the  enchanted  supposes  that  he 
is  doing  God  service.  Whether  true  or  not,  as  the 
saying  runs,  that  "  he  thought  it  too  bad  to  let  the 
devil  have  all  the  best  tunes,"  the  founder  of  Meth- 
odism adopted  a  class  bordering  more  nearly  upon 
the  jocose,  the  amorous,  the  martial,  and  the  bac- 
chanalian, than  had  previously  been  considered 
proper  in  singing  psalms  to  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 
They,  however,  consequently  had  no  more  affinity 
to  psalm  tunes  than  his  "Hymns  for  the  Use  of  the 
People  called  Methodists"  have  to  "the  songs  of 
Zion."  His  hymns  and  tunes  (although  in  part  of 
German  origin)  were  "new  gods  that  came  newly 
up."     Deut.  xxxii.  17. 

Under  these  and  other  similar  appliances,  con- 
nected with  doctrines  not  at  variance  with  the  pride 
of  the  unrenewed  heart,  "  a  revival"  is  "  got  up,"  and 
becomes  effective,  while  one  element  of  efficiency  in 


REVIVALS.  165 

the  pulpit,  "  preaching,"  is  never  cast  aside  for  the 
more  fashionable  way  of  reading.  Speaking  to  his 
audience  face  to  face,  with  these  and  various  other 
auxiliaries,  the  preacher,  under  the  influence  of  a 
superabundant  pathos,  becomes  successful  beyond 
competition,  and  brings  down  under  "the  power" 
many  a  child  of  disobedience.  These,  as  the  will 
becomes  with  them  positive,  are  called  to  "  the 
anxious  seats,"  taken  "  on  probation,"  and  nailed 
and  riveted  in  "  class  meetings."  Under  all  their 
impulses  and  feelings,  Poetry  lends  her  influence, 
teaching  them  to  sing,  — 

"I  rode  on  the  sky, 
Freely  justified  I, 
Xor  did  envy  Elijah  his  seat. 
My  soul  mounted  higher, 
On  a  chariot  of  fire, 
And  the  moon  it  was  under  my  feet." 

M.  P.,  Hymx  86. 

How  much  above  the  moon  such  appliances  may 
elevate  those  who  thus  ride  on  the  sky,  it  is  difficult 
to  determine ;  but  Phaeton  like,  too  often,  after  a 
brilliant  career,  they  ride  in  an  opposite  direction, 
and  find  that  "  action  and  reaction  are  equal."  Yet, 
accommodating  in  every  direction,  the  "  Hymns  for 
the  Use  of  the  People  called  Methodists "  enable 
them  to  sing, — 

"  Ah,  Lord,  with  trembling  I  confess, 
A  gracious  soul  may  fall  from  grace." 

"  0,  where  am  I  now,  when  was  it  or  how, 
That  I  fell  from  my  heaven  of  grace  ?  " 

M.  P.  Hymx  Book,  H.  85. 


166  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

This  alternating  process  is  not  unusual,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  years  a  convert  may  have 
passed  through  the  varied  stages  of  conviction,  sub- 
mission, seeking,  confessing  in  class,  reception  to 
full  fellowship,  be  "  zealously  affected,"  and  ride 
"  on  the  sky."  Elevated  though  he  may  be,  he 
sometimes  finds  "  a  law  in  his'  members "  which 
carries  him  eventually  to  the  congregation  of  the 
backsliders,  whence,  occasionally,  under  favorable 
influences,  he  is  "  converted  again  "  by  a  renewal 
of  the  above  process ;  and  at  other  times  he  becomes 
an  occupant  of  "  the  seat  of  the  scornful."  Where 
genuine  conversion  takes  place  under  this  process, 
it  is  by  the  Holy  Spirit  owning  what  of  "  the  fool-, 
ishness  of  preaching,"  and  of  "  holding  forth  the 
word  of  life,"  may  be  at  the  time  mingled  with 
these  arrangements  of  man's  devising  in  this 
image,  which  is  in  "part  iron,  and  in  part  miry 
clay." 

This  will  be  found  true  also  in  all  the  appliances 
of  like  nature,  by  which  Congregationalism,  in  all 
its  varieties,  "  gets  lip  a  revival."  With  them  the 
camp  meeting  is  now  seldom  used,  but  "  the  anx- 
ious seat "  as  the  place,  and  "  the  season  for  revi- 
vals "  as  the  time,  (which  is  usually  during  winter,) 
take  their  categorical  position. 

For  many  years,  the  ordinary  and  stated  minis- 
trations of  the  gospel  and  sealing  ordinances,  in  not 
a  few  of  the  churches  of  this  order  in  the  Northern 
States,  have  been  viewed  as  secondary  to  the  tran- 


REVIVALS.  167 

sient  labors  of  a  Finney,*  a  Burchard,  a  Littlejohn, 
a  Knapp.f  or  a  Raymond. 

Under  -Evangelists"  (so  called)  of  this  class, 
as  Dr.  Franklin  drew  down  the  lightning  with 
his  kite,  so  the  Holy  Spirit  has  at  times  been  repre- 
sented as  going  from  town  to  village, J  just  as  the 
<;  revivalist "  moved  and  "  got  up  a  revival." 

As  what  is  now  designated  "  the  Constitutional 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  "  was 
originally  and  mostly  of  New  England  and  Con- 
gregational origin,  so  among  them  the  same  appli- 
ances are  not  unknown.     ;i  The  protracted  meeting" 

*  The  New  York  Observer,  January  27, 1853,  quotes  a  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  Evangelist,  saying,  the  "  Rev.  C.  G.  Finney  has  been 
preaching  for  five  or  six  weeks  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  mostly  in  the 
Congregational  church.  Hi*s  discourses  are  very  much  like  those  de- 
livered upwards  ot*  twenty-five  years  ago  with  so  great  effect.  Yet  it 
must  be  confessed  that  his  meetings  from  evening  to  evening  are  pro- 
ducing very  little  apparent  result.  I  have  attended  some  of  them, 
and  have  been  surprised,  as  have  others,  at  the  comparatively  slight 
impression  made  on  the  audience."  Any  other  result  would  be  mirac- 
ulous. 

f  u  It  is  stated  in  the  Congregational  Journal,  by  a  Baptist  gentle- 
man of  Boston,  that  Elder  Knapp  received  in  fifteen  months  above 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  besides  presents.  —  See  Chris- 
tian Observer,  May  7,  18-52."     "  It's  nae  for  nought  the  glede  whistles." 

—  Scottish  Proverb. 

X  "  From  the  south  a  little  cloud  came  up,  and  the  Baptist  church 
in  Glasgow  was  visited.  Thence  it  moved  to  Winchester ;  from  Win- 
chester again  it  went  eastward  a  short  distance,  and  came  down  with 
unwonted  effusion  upon  the  '  English  settlement.'  Shaping  its  course 
towards  Winchester  once  more,  the  cloud  returned  and  visited  with 
another  outpouring  a  populous  settlement  about  two  miles  south,  and 
still  the  cloud  seems  to  be  hovering  around  us,  as  if  loath  to  depart." 

—  Gideon  C.  Clark,  Winchester,  Scott  county,  Illinois,  to  New  York 
Independent,  February  16,  1854. 


168  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

has,  in  cases  not  a  few,  been  considered,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  duration,  "the  very  gate  of  heaven." 
Hence  "  a  forty  days'  meeting "  has  usually  been 
considered  more  effectual  than  "  a  twenty  days' " 
one  ;  and  well  do  I  remember  that  at  a  meeting  of 
a  presbytery  at  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  in  1834, 
before  the  division  of  the  Assembly,  and  while  its 
conflicting  elements  were  in  a  considerable  effer- 
vescence, that  a  Rev.  Mr.  Halsey  proposed  to  have 
"  a  ten  days'  prayer  meeting  for  a  Pentecostal  effu- 
sion of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  then,"  said  he,  "  we 
will  have  no  strife  about  doctrine."  The  idea  of 
"  a  protracted  meeting "  appears  to  have  been 
adopted  as  a  compensatory  appliance,  where,  in 
abolishing  "  the  Lord's  table  "  for  the  convenience 
of  seat  distribution,  those  days  of  humiliation,  con- 
ference, and  preparation  before,  and  the  day  of 
thanksgiving  after  a  communion  Sabbath,  have 
been  set  aside.  As  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  is  said  to 
have  remarked  to  an  aspirant  to  authorship,  (who 
had,  in  hope  of  a  high  recommendation,  submitted 
his  manuscript  to  him,)  "  Young  man,  what  is  new 
in  your  production  is  not  good,  and  what  is  good 
is  not  new,"  so  similar  is  the  case  here.  While 
these  days,  as  observed  in  times  past  by  Presbyte- 
rians, claim  no  express  scriptural  appointment,  and 
are  only  lawful  expedients  for  "godly  edifying," 
still  they  embrace  all  of  the  nature  of  an  extra  and 
freewill  offering  of  time,  which  can  be  profitably 
employed  in  this  manner. 


REVIVALS.  169 

Where  the  protracted  meeting  is  continued  be- 
yond a  few  days,  the  interests  of  domestic  religious 
duty  must  suffer;  and  they  never  suffer  alone. 
When  public  prayer  meetings  are  convened  so 
early,  and  evening  meetings  are  continued  so  late, 
as  to  interfere  with  the  morning  and  evening  sacri- 
fice of  praise  and  prayer  in  the  dwellings  of  the 
righteous,  "  undefiled  religion  "  invariably  finds  that 
she  has  "  gained "  much  "  harm  and  loss."  By 
such  expedients,  the  appointed  means  of  grace  usu- 
ally lose  their  efficacy,  the  excited  sensibilities  of 
the  soul  cry,  Give,  give,  and  the  pastor,  when  "the 
revivalist"  has  exhausted  his  strength  in  "a  pro- 
tracted meeting,"  finding  himself  unable  to  "  mount 
the  whirlwind  and  direct  the  storm,"  is  often  forced 
to  ask  his  dismission,  and  to  seek  a  more  genial 
field  of  labor.  Thus  those  feelings  of  attachment 
between  pastor  and  people  which  have  grown  with 
mutual  increase  for,  it  may  be,  many  years ;  which 
in  purity  and  power  stand  second  only  to,  and  are 
often  elevated  above,  the  ties  of  consanguinity; 
which,  under  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  enable  him  to 
"  make  full  proof  of  his  ministry,"  and  them  to  realize 
that  their  "  souls  are  like  a  watered  garden,  or  a  field 
which  the  Lord  doth  bless,"  are  severed  "  as  a  thread 
of  tow  is  broken  when  it  toucheth  the  fire." 

To   compensate  for  such,  and  their  consequent 

desolations  of  the  sanctuary,  a  modern  revival  has 

been  chronicled.  -  I  say  a  modern  revival,  for  I  do 

not   deny  that  at  times   the  appointed  means  of 

15 


170  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

grace  are  more  largely  blessed  than  at  other  seasons, 
while  "  the  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  out- 
ward show."  I  say  a  modern  revival,  when  con- 
trasted with  those  of  "the  kirk  of  Shotts"  and  "of 
Enfield,"  where,  in  the  former,  "  on  a  Monday  after 
the  communion,"  Livingston  disclosed  extensively, 
for  two  hours  and  a  half,  the  arrangements  of  "  the 
covenant  of  grace,"  from  Ezekiel  xxxvi.  25,  26, 
"  Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and 
ye  shall  be  clean,"  &c,  &c,  and  where,  in  the  latter, 
Edwards  set  forth  the  curse  of  the  broken  "cove- 
nant of  works"  from  the  awful  denunciation, 
"  Their  feet  shall  slide  in  due  time."  I  say  a 
modern  revival,  for  these  religious  agitators  proclaim 
usually,  or  perhaps  invariably,  some  kind  of  a  new 
covenant,  which  they  call  a  covenant  of  grace,  into 
which  each  individual  must  enter  with  God,  some- 
what as  Adam  did.  Much  time,  on  such  occasions, 
is  often  spent  in  removing  "  the  stumbling  blocks 
out  of  the  sinner's  way,"  which  would  be  more 
profitably  employed  in  directing  him  to  trust,  to  re- 
ceive, and  rest  by  faith,  upon  the  all-sufficient  atone- 
ment of  Emanuel ;  and  while  the  terrors  of  the 
law  are  proclaimed,  the  anxious  seat  is  declared  to 
be  the  only  place  known  to  the  revivalist  in  which 
the  sinner  can  escape  perdition. 

From  these  alternating  seasons  of  apathy  and 
excitement,  true  Presbyterians  desire  deliverance. 
To  them  the  soul  is  always  valuable,  and  while 
under  "  the  covenant  of  works,"  its  danger  is  always 


REVIVALS.  171 

imminent.  Consequently,  "  knowing  the  terror  of 
the  Lord,"  they  endeavor  to  "  persuade  men."  They 
"  preach  the  word,  are  instant  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  exhort,  instruct,  rebuke  with  all  long  suffer- 
ing and  doctrine,  teaching  publicly  and  from  house 
to  house."  Thus  they  trust  more  for  success  in 
"  the  work  of  the  ministry,"  to  the  faithful  use  of 
the  varied  appointed  means  of  grace  at  all  seasons 
of  the  year,  than  to  anxious  seats  and  the  other  in- 
strumentalities of  religious  excitement,  whether 
"  revivals  "  are  "  got  up  "  at  a  camp  meeting  under 
Sirius,  or  during  the  chosen  "  season  for  revivals " 
under  the  auspices  of  Capricorn  ;  and  they  do  this, 
not  only  as  it  relates  to  the  conviction  and  conver- 
sion of  sinners,  but  also  as  it  promotes  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  just. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

INFLUENCES  IN  THE  PLACE  OF  WORSHIP. 

These  elementary  forms  of  church  government 
have  each  a  specific  influence  upon  the  views  of 
those  who  entertain  them,  in  relation  to  the  sanc- 
tity and  importance  of  the  place  of  Christian  wor- 
ship. 

"  Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  into  the  house 
of  God,"  is  the  order  of  approach  ;  yet  it  is  capable 
of  either  superstitious  embellishments  on  the  one 
hand,  or  of  gross  disrespect  upon  the  other.  Prela- 
tists  borrowing  not  only  their  worship,  but  also  the 
sanctity  of  their  approach  to  the  place  of  prayer, 
from  the  temple  service  at  Jerusalem,  —  where  the 
value  of  the  blessing  of  the  High  Priest  to  the  peo- 
ple, his  powers  of  consecration,  and  his  vast  eleva- 
tion above  them,  were  established  by  divine  au- 
thority, and  where  the  emblem  of  the  presence  of 
Jehovah  could  be  approached  by  him  alone,  —  their 
places  of  religious  concourse  become  sacred  now, 
by  the  blessing  or  consecration  given  by  some  ec- 
clesiastic, as  well  as  by  his  presence.  Popery,  em- 
bellished by  a  vast  amount  of  foppery,  consecrates 
by  ceremonies,  not  only  churches,  but  altars,  bells, 

(172) 


INFLUENCES    IN    THE    PLACE    OF    WORSHIP.      173 

books,  candles,  water,  oil,  ashes,  palms,  swords, 
banners,  pictures,  crosses,  roses,  &c,  &c. 

In  the  Anglican  •  establishment,  churches  have 
always  been  consecrated  with  particular  ceremo- 
nies, the  form  of  which  is  usually  left  to  the  taste 
of  the  bishop.  As  a  specimen  of  high  prelacy 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  consecration  of  St. 
Catharine  Cree  church  in  London,  by  Archbishop 
Laud.  "  At  his  approach  to  the  west  door  of  the 
church,  attended  by  some  civilians  and  several  of 
the  High  Commission,  some,  that  were  appointed  for 
that  purpose,  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Open,  open 
ye  the  everlasting  doors,  that  the  King-  of  glory  may 
come  in  ! '  Presently  the  doors,  which  were  guarded 
by  halberdiers,  were  opened,  and  the  bishop,  with 
some  doctors  and  principal  men,  entered.  As  soon 
as  they  were  within  the  place,  his  lordship  fell  down 
upon  his  knees,  and  with  his  eyes  lifted  up  and  his 
arms  spread  abroad,  said,  '  This  place  is  holy;  the 
ground  is  holy ;  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  I  pronounce  it  holy.''  Then  walking 
up  the  middle  aisle  towards  the  chancel,  he  took 
up  some  of  the  dust,  and  threw  it  into  the  air 
several  times."  * 

Similar,  although  less  extravagant,  forms  of  con- 
secration are  adopted  by  American  Protestant  prel- 
ates, and  consequently  the  place  becomes  so  holy 
that  no  man  otherwise  ordained  than  by  apostolic 


*  Sep  Buck's  Dictionary,  art  Consecration. 

15* 


174  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

succession  can  officiate  lawfully  in  its  precincts. 
The  place,  whether  of  wood,  brick,  or  stone,  be- 
comes a  part  of  "  the  church,"  and  is  usually  de- 
voted to  the  tutelage  of  some  saint,  real  or 
imaginary,  while  others,  destitute  of  prelatic  conse- 
cration compared  with  it,  if  not  heretical  or  dis- 
senters, are  at  least  schismatical. 

In  an  editorial  of  the  New  York  Ecclesiologist, 
quoted  by  a  writer  in  the  Christian  Instructor,  of 
Philadelphia,  for  January,  1853,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing, which,  if  it  does  not  savor  more  of  the  Meta- 
morphoses of  Ovid  than  of  the  New  Testament, 
will,  at  least,  so  far  establish  the  truth  of  my  posi- 
tion in  relation  to  church  government  and  its  influ- 
ences (as  seen  from  this  stand  point)  on  sectarian- 
ism :  "  But  some  will  say,  How  can  there  be 
proper  chancel  arrangements  in  a  barn  ?  We  will 
not  find  the  thing  so  difficult  if  we  only  keep  clear 
in  our  minds  the  true  idea  of  a  Christian  church— 
its  threefold  character  and  its  progressive  symbol- 
ism, the  nave,  the  chancel,  and  the  sanctuary; 
the  nave  symbolizing  this  earth ;  the  chancel, 
(where  prayer  is  offered  and  praises  sung,)  the 
Christian  life,  by  which  we  approach  heaven  ;  and 
the  sanctuary,  where  the  mystic  sacrifice  is  offered, 
symbolizing  heaven  itself.  If  the  barn  be  a  paral- 
lelogram, and  not  more  than  twenty  feet  wide,  one 
end  of  it  might  be  raised  and  railed  off  for  a 
chancel ;  but  if  much  wider  than  twenty  feet,  which 
is  generally  the  case,  the  best  arrangement  would 


INFLUENCES    IN    THE    PLACE    OF    WORSHIP.      175 

be  a  platform  running  from  end  to  end,  about  fif- 
teen feet  in  length  and  twelve  in  width  :  this  might 
be  raised  two  steps,  and  then  the  back  part  of  it 
raised  another  step  for  the  sanctuary.  Here,  at  the 
further  end,  would  stand  the  altar,  and  near  it  the 
communion  table;  below,  on  the  lower  platform, 
would  stand  on  one  side,  facing  sideways,  a  desk, 
from  which  the  prayers  would  be  offered,  and 
on  the  other  the  lecturn,  facing  tvest,  for  the  lessons 
and  preaching." 

The  actions  performed  here,  whether  in  the  nave, 
the  chancel,  or  the  sanctuary,  not  only  of  worship, 
but  of  social  intercourse,  consequently  obtain  a 
deeper  relative  imaginary  sanctity  of  character 
from  the  locality.  Hence,  as  it  is  a  sacrament 
among  Papists,  and  thus  to  be  solemnized  by  a 
holy  man,  in  holy  robes,  and,  if  practicable,  in  a 
holy  place,  so  marriage  in  a  church  at  "  the  altar," 
by  any  fibre  of  the  cord  of  apostolical  succession, 
even  among  Protestants  entertaining  this  radical 
idea  of  regimen,  has  an  increased  imaginary  sanc- 
tity from  the  place  as  a  consecrated  one.  "  The 
altar  sanctifies  "  (with  them)  the  transaction.  Con- 
sequently, amono'  those  of  an  an  pie  faith,  a  bride 
"  led  to  the  altar  "  becomes  possessed  of  an  imagi- 
nary sanctity  above  and  beyond  her  who  is  joined 
to  her  husband  in  marriage  in  the  home  of  her 
youth. 

By  pious  Presbyterians,  the  spiritual  presence  of 
Him  who  has  said,  "  In  all  places  where  I  record  my 


176  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

name,  I  will  come  unto  you  and  bless  you,"  is  the 
primary  object  of  desire;  and  while  "  the  Most  High 
does  not  dwell  in  temples  made  with  hands,"  yet  it 
is  a  duty  upon  them  the  most  imperative  to  see 
that  they  "  forsake  not  the  assembling  of  themselves 
together,"  and  that  they  "  find  a  place  of  habitation 
for  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob."  By  them,  places 
of  worship  are  considered  sacred,  not  from  the 
presence  of  any  favored  priesthood,  nor  any  embel- 
lishments of  the  chisel,  the  pencil,  or  the  brush, 
even  when  these  are  accompanied  by  all  the  other 
decorations  of  artistic  skill,  and  the  refinements  of 
sentimental  music.  They  observe  that  wherever 
men  have  devoted  an  undue  attention  to  the  build- 
ing and  to  its  ornaments,  "  graven  by  art  and  man's 
device,"  that  its  spiritual  interests  have  languished. 
Hence  plainness  and  simplicity,  rather  than  embel- 
lishment and  show,  abound  with  them.  While  this 
is  asserted  to  be  the  desired  (and  perhaps  prevail- 
ing) style  of  their  places  of  worship,  yet,  in  many 
cases,  one  of  two  extremes  abounds  among  them, 
both  alike  disgraceful.  Either  the  house  of  prayer 
is,  through  indifference  or  avarice,  neglected,  and, 
under  prevailing  dilapidation,  becomes  much  "  like 
a  lodge  in  a  garden  of  cucumbers "  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile,  or  pride  and  show  prevail  over  an 
equitable  discretion,  until  their  shrine  gives  painful 
illustration  of  that  case  in  which  a  building  is 
erected  without  duly  "  sitting  down  first  and  count- 
ing the  cost." 


INFLUENCES    IN    THE    PLACE    OF    WORSHIP.      177 

Compared  with  that  of  Episcopalians,  the  con- 
duct of  Presbyterians  in  the  house  of  prayer  is 
usually  more  solemn  and  devout.  As  we  have 
seen,  their  worship,  in  comparison  with  the  former, 
is  always  more  scriptural.  The  embellishments  of 
robes,  the  ritual  of  the  litany,  the  liturgy,  lessons 
of  the  day,  and  the  thunders  and  interludes  of  the 
choir  and  organ  gallery,  may  all  produce,  upon  a 
person  for  the  first  time,  impressions  of  reverence  and 
awe ;  but  these  familiarity  will  extensively  efface. 
By  familiarity  with  the  most  beautiful  and  sublime 
spectacle  in  nature,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence, a  matter  of  course  —  "  O,  it  is  only  the  rising 
of  the  sun."  This  principle  applies  here.  Make  a 
ritual  as  sublime  to  human  emotions  as  artistic 
skill  can  arrange  it,  and  familiarized  with  it,  the 
very  performers  may,  through  custom,  forget  the 
proprieties  of  their  position,  whether  in  the  choir  or 
at  the  altar;  while  whispering,  side  conversation, 
the  expressive  look,  or  the  titter,  may  dispel  both 
reverence  and  awe  from,  at  least,  some  of  the  au- 
dience. 

Similar  outbreaks  of  impropriety  or  folly  may,  it 
is  true,  disgrace  a  Presbyterian  place  of  worship, 
and  too  often  do  so ;  but  where  all  unitedly  "  make 
a  joyful  noise  to  God  with  psalms,"  "  stand  praying," 
or  "  hear  what  God  the  Lord  will  speak  "  (not  read) 
to  his  people,  habits  of  attention  in  divine  worship 
are  formed,  which  much  more  extensively  partake 
of  and  promote  that  fear  which  is  due  to  Jehovah  in 


178  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  assembly  of  his  saints,  than  any  results  of  hu- 
man arrangement  which  have  yet  been  discovered 
or  invented. 

"  God  is  a  Spirit,"  and  in  spirit  and  truth  alone 
can  he  be  worshipped  with  acceptance.  The  worship 
at  the  temple,  with  all  its  gorgeous  trappings,  which 
were  at  best  but  weak  and  beggarly  elements,  have, 
at  the  death  of  Christ  and  by  his  authority,  been 
superseded  by  public  weekly  worship  in  the  Chris- 
tian synagogue. 

The  result  of  constant  attendance  on  these 
places,  Prelatic  and  Presbyterian  respectively,  may 
usually,  to  no  inconsiderable  extent,  be  gathered  on 
the  departure  of  the  assembly  from  the  place  of 
prayer.  The  one  has  "  attended  service,"  the  other 
has  "been  to  worship."  The  pleasantry  of  ani- 
mated conversational  powers  may,  at  least,  occa- 
sionally be  found  among  the  one ;  gravity  of  conduct, 
solemnity  of  conversation,  and  deep  regard  for  the 
sacred  Sabbath,  is  expected  of  the  other.  Hence, 
by  the  former,  Presbyterians  are  considered  to  be 
"sour"  and  austere. 

Among  the  earlier  Congregationalists,  as  they 
had  nothing  scriptural  peculiar  to  themselves,  their 
manner  of  providing  a  place  for  public  worship, 
their  arrangements  of  and  attendance  on  the  means 
of  grace,  were  borrowed  from  and  conformed  to 
what  I  have  said  (in  these  particulars)  of  the 
usages  of  Presbyterians  ;  while  those  of  the  pres- 
ent generation  assimilate,  as  a  sentimental  taste 


INFLUENCES    IN    THE    PLACE    OF    WORSHIP.     179 

and  the  popular  will  may  dictate,  more  progres- 
sively towards  Episcopacy.  Hence  the  formal 
dedication  (if  not  consecration)  of  holy  places  has 
become  not  uncommon.  When  the  Baptist  church 
in  Rowe  Street,  Boston,  was  opened  for  public 
worship,  a  part  of  the  adopted  phraseology  was, 
"  We  dedicate  to  thee  these  walls,  we  dedicate  to 
thee  these  seats,  we  dedicate  to  thee  this  baptistery, 
we  dedicate  to  thee  this  orchestra."  Placing  occa- 
sionally a  cross  upon  Congregationalist  churches, 
on  the  tops  of  their  organs,  or  on  the  fronts  of  their 
pulpits,  is  another  point  in  which  they  imitate  Prel- 
atists ;  *  while  in  adopting,  as  taste  may  dictate, 
either  the  Gothic  or  Norman  style  of  architecture, 
to  future  generations  their  places  of  worship  will 
present  an  anachronism.  Their  exercises  in  public 
worship  are  becoming  more  conformed  to  those  of 
this  type  of  government,  as  choirs  or  organs  take, 
according  to  the  wealth  or  fashion  of  the  church. 


*  In  the  first  parish  church  of  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  said  to 
be  the  oldest  Orthodox  church  but  one  in  America,  (or  even  in  the 
world,)  a  cross  is  placed  in  the  front  of  the  pulpit,  another  surmounts 
the  organ,  while  a  huge  gilded  one  rests  on  "  the  pinnacle  of  the  tem- 
ple." On  the  27th  February,  18-53,  a  Papal  maiden,  attracted  by  the 
external  one,  by  the  Papal  appearance  of  the  building,  its  stained 
■windows,  &c,  &c,  notwithstanding  the  absence  of  holy  water  at  the 
door,  came  down  the  broad  aisle,  knelt  before  the  one  on  the  pulpit, 
and  proceeded  in  so  far  with  her  devotions,  until  the  pleasant  counte- 
nances of  the  spectators,  more  than  the  absence  of  some  of  the  other 
prominent  peculiarities  with  which  she  would  have  met  in  a  mass  house, 
induced  her  to  conclude  that  she  was  not  quite  in  the  lap  of  "  Holy 
Mother,"  although  doing  homage  to  one  of  her  tokens. 


180  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  place  of  the  whole  congregation  in  singing,  or 
when  they  play  praise  by  proxy  for  all  present. 

Following  in  the  same  footsteps,  and  who  must 
be  arranged  in  the  same  category,  are  found  many 
who  wear  the  Presbyterian  name,  who,  having  cast 
aside  "  the  songs  of  Zion,"  pour  forth  the  unin- 
spired effusions  of  the  unsanctified  human  mind, 
"  and  rejoice  at  the  sound  of  the  organ."  Conse- 
quently, secluded  in  the  front  gallery  from  less  vo- 
cal mortals,  are  often,  if  not  usually  seen,  a  select 
company  of  gay  performers,  whom,  according  to 
modern  custom,  the  congregation  stand  up  to  face 
and  "  admire,"  and  who,  having  played  or  sung  (if 
not  acted)  their  part,  often  take  but  a  very  second- 
ary interest  in  prayer  and  preaching.  The  influ- 
ences of  this  part  of  the  arrangements  of  modern 
Congregationalism,  the  reader  can,  perhaps,  better 
understand  from  the  teachings  of  Congregational- 
ists  themselves ;  and  I  would  refer  him  to  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Rev.  J.  A.  James,  a  chary  opponent 
of  Presbyterianism,  quoted  above,  where  he  points 
out  to  us  the  troublesome  and  unmanageable  char- 
acter of  a  choir,  and  their  misconduct  in  their 
chosen  "high  places"  of  their  sanctuaries.  Cor- 
roborative of  this  is  the  testimony  of  (among  not  a 
few  other  Congregation alists)  Mr.  Asa  Fitz,  author 
of  the  Parlor  Harp,  who  says,  "  Many  of  our 
best  Christians  and  Christian  pastors  have  for  a 
long  time  felt  there  was  a  great  and  growing  evil 
connected  with  our  choir  singing  for  religious  pur- 


INFLUENCES    IN    THE    PLACE    OF    WORSHIP.      181 

poses.  The  house  of  the  living  God,  with  all  its 
hallowed  associations,  has  been  changed  to  a  place 
of  godless  fashion  and  heartless  mummery.  The 
spirit  of  the  '  sweet  singer  of  Israel '  has  departed 
from  our  churches,  while  the  simple  and  pure  wor- 
ship of  our  fathers  has  degenerated  into  the  soul- 
less performance  of  wood,  brass,  and  iron.  The 
churches  of  the  present  day  have  been  led  into  a 
fatal  error,  that,  in  order  to  flourish,  they  must  have 
costly  edifices,  a  few  hired  singers,  and  a  powerful 
organ,  whose  voluntaries  fill  the  lofty  arches  of  their 
splendid  temples  with  unmeaning  thunder." 

The  results  of  such  unhallowed  arrangements 
can  form  but  little  affinity  with  the  "fruits  of 
righteousness;"  and  although,  by  these  and  corre- 
sponding appliances,  many  churches  are  filled,  and 
their  seats  at  auction  command  a  premium,  yet 
but  little  of  that  "  holiness  without  which  no  man 
can  see  the  Lord  "  can  grow  in  "  singing  seats  "  as 
above  described. 

While,  then,  many  of  the  audience  in  a  popular 
assembly  of  this  type  of  church  government  desire 
to  "  hear  "  that  their  souls  may  live,  others,  realizing 
that  they,  the  hearers,  are  the  source  of  ministerial 
power  to  the  preacher,  and  that  no  inconsiderable 
amount  of  his  effort  must  be  made  to  please  them, 
instead  of  drawing  near  to  God,  and  finding  it  good 
so  to  do,  sit  in  judgment  on  the  person,  the  voice, 
the  tones,  the  grammar,  the  sentiment,  the  intellect- 
ual ability,  the  eloquence,  or  the  beauty  of  the  man. 
16 


182  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

If  these  and  other  requisites,  to  the  extent  de- 
manded, all  meet  in  his  person  and  labors,  he  be- 
comes indeed  "the  angel  of  the  church;"  if  not,  he 
is  doomed  as  dull,  dry,  uninteresting,  unpopular,  or  it 
may  be  that,  in  clerical  phrase,  the  terms  "  vinegar- 
faced  evangelical"  may  overtake  him,  and  he  may 
prepare  to  "let  himself  out"  elsewhere  at  no  distant 
day.*  To  cherish  a  refined  sentimentality,  modern 
fashionable  churches  draw  almost  equally  upon  the 
choir  and  the  pulpit.  Hence,  to  produce  a  full  ef- 
fect, both  must  be  seen  as  well  as  heard.  Lest  the 
reader  may  ascribe  this  to  prejudice,  I  refer  to  fact. 
In  the  Boston  Traveller  of  January  7,  1852,  you 
may  find  the  following :  — 

"  Pew  to  let.  —  The  pew  No.  26,  in  the  Cen- 
tral Church,  Winter  Street.  This  pew  is  in  a  good 
location,  in  front  of  the  singers,  on  one  of  the  cen- 

*  This  evil  of  constant  change  originating  with  Congregationalism, 
works  like  leaven  in  many  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  especially 
in  its  more  popular  and  hymn-singing  divisions.  Thus.,  says  a  writer, 
(quoted  by  the  New  York  Independent,  January  12,  1854,)  "  A  fact 
has  made  a  strong  impression  on  my  mind.  The  pastoral  relation  was 
created  in  three  of  our  best  churches,  and  in  less  than  eighteen  months 
these  relations  were  broken  up.  This  should  be  a  source  of  mortifica- 
tion to  both  pastor  and  people,  let  the  blame  rest  where  it  will.  The 
pastoral  relation  is  sacred,  like  the  marriage  contract,  and  should  not 
be  divorced  for  trifling  causes.  Madison  (Indiana)  presbytery  is  now 
composed  of  fourteen  members  ;  two  reside  beyond  our  bounds,  and 
two  others  are  not  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  Since  the 
division  in  1838,  forty  ministers  have  been  connected  with  us,  and  only 
one  of  the  first  year's  number  now  remains.  The  longest  period  of 
pastoral  relation  has  been  nine  years,  and  this  was  the  finishing  out  of 
twenty-eight  years  of  pastoral  service,  which  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Dickey 
performed  among  the  people  of  his  first  love." 


INFLUENCES    IN    THE    PLACE    OF    WORSHIP.      183 

tral  aisles,  and  has  a  good  view  of  the  pulpit.  Ap- 
ply to  I.  G.,  36  W Street." 

In  a  proper  Presbyterian  church,  where  all,  in 
singing  psalms  to  God,  give  him  the  fruit  of  their 
lips  individually  and  collectively,  the  idea  of  a  pew 
being  in  a  good  location  in  front  of  the  singers 
could  never  be  its  prominent  eligibility,  nor  any  ad- 
vantage at  all,  nor  be  mentioned.  Among  proper 
Presbyterians,  such  an  arrangement  could  have  no 
existence ;  yet,  as  a  part  of  modern  Congregation- 
alism, it  is  not  presumptuous  to  suppose  that  "  the 
manner  in  which"  this  custom  "took  its  rise  in 
New  England  renders  it  sufficiently  divine."  The 
result  of  such  conformity  to  prelatic  usage,  com- 
bined with  what  is  peculiar  to  this  type  of  church 
government  in  the  case,  to  say  nothing  more  specific 
of  its  results  in  the  house  of  worship,  does  not  con- 
tribute in  an  extraordinary  degree,  on  the  part  of 
the  hearers  when  they  return  home,  to  an  imitation 
of  the  Bereans,  who,  having  heard  the  word,  "re- 
ceived it  with  all  readiness  of  mind,"  and  afterwards 
"  searched  the  Scriptures  daily  to  see  whether  these 
things  were  so."  Was  there  not  a  time  in  New 
England  when,  in  some  respects  at  least,  "the 
former  days  were  better  than  these  ? " 

While  Prelacy  aims  to  make  her  places  of  prayer 
attractive  by  a  relative  sanctity  derived  from  conse- 
cration, Congregationalism  not  only  attends  to  con- 
venience in  their  structure,  and  preserves  them  from 
dilapidation,  but,   at   least,    sometimes   strives   to 


184        PHILOSOPHY  OF  SECTARIANISM. 

secure  the  same  object  by  decoration.  Still,  where 
this  order  of  government  prevails,  men  often  prefer 
the  hall  or  schoolroom,  even  as  a  place  of  prayer, 
to  an  edifice  devoted  exclusively  to  public  worship. 
It  offers,  by  association  of  ideas,  less  restraint. 

Connected  with  the  sanctity  and  importance  of 
the  place  of  worship  are  the  respective  usages  of 
each  specific  form  relative  to  the  sepulture  of  the 
dead.  The  one  has  a  stereotyped  form  of  "  burial 
service,"  or  "  office,"  for  all,  excepting  those  who  u  die 
unbaptized,  or  excommunicate,  or  have  laid  violent 
hands  upon  themselves,"  to  be  "  used "  by  "the  priest 
and  clerks  meeting  the  corpse  at  the  entrance  of  the 
churchyard,  and  going  before  it  either  into  the 
church  or  towards  the  grave;"  the  other  modern 
Congregationalism  has  usually  a  funeral  sermon  or 
the  reading  of  a  few  verses  of  Scripture,  and  a 
statement  of  the  virtues  of  the  deceased,  in  con- 
nection with  which  the  mandate  of  custom  requires 
those  present  to  look  upon  the  corpse  in  its  garni- 
ture. The  Puritans  >  had  no  burial  service,  nor 
funeral  sermon.  "  The  first  instance  in  which  it  is 
known  that  a  prayer  was  offered  at  a  funeral  in 
New  England,  was  in  1685,  at  Dedham,  Massa- 
chusetts —  an  act  which  attracted  much  observation 
at  the  time."  *  Among  Presbyterians  it  is  ordered, 
"  When  any  person  departeth  this  life,  let  the  dead 
body,  upon  the  day  of  burial,  be  decently  attended 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Adams,  New  York. 


INFLUENCES    IN    THE    PLACE    OF    WORSHIP.      185 

from  the  house  to  the  place  appointed  for  public 
burial,  and  there  immediately  interred  without  any 
ceremony. 

"  Howbeit,  it  is  very  convenient,  that  the  Christian 
friends  who  accompany  the  dead  body  to  the  place 
appointed  for  public  burial  do  apply  themselves  to 
meditations  and  conferences  suitable  to  the  occa- 
sion; and  that  the  minister,  as  upon  other  occasions, 
so  at  this  time,  if  he  be  present,  may  put  them  in 
remembrance  of  their  duty." 
16* 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


MISSIONS. 


In  this  field  of  competition,  both  the  other  radical 
divisions  outstrip  Presbyterianism.  Under  Prelacy 
the  power  of  ordination  and  of  rule,  being  lodged 
in  a  single  hand,  gives  efficiency  to  missionary  op- 
erations. Hence,  although  upon  the  Greek  church 
a  supineness  has  rested  in  regard  to  missions  for 
many  centuries,  the  other  branches  of  Episcopacy 
have  not  in  this  department  of  religious  activity 
been  idle.  Papal  Prelacy,  from  its  rise  and  growth 
with  "  the  dark  ages,"  has  ever  compassechsea  and 
land  to  make  one  proselyte,  and  it  is  to  be  feared, 
has  often  made  its  converts  twofold  more  the  chil- 
dren of  hell  than  they  were  before. 

The  man  of  sin  has  partitioned  out  to  his  priest- 
hood and  spiritual  subjects  the  whole  earth  and  its 
other  inhabitants,  and  established  his  "  orders " 
among  a  large  proportion  of  our  race.  Under  one 
of  these,  the  term  Jesuit  denotes  so  much  of  the 
sum  and  attainments  of  human  depravity  and  its 
workings,*  that  earthly  kings  have  been  forced  to 

*  Especially  equivocation  under   oath.      See  note  under  Chapter 
XX.,  viz.,  Statement  of  Lord  Lyndhurst. 

(18G) 


MISSIONS.  187 

expel  the  "  order "  from  their  dominions,  and  by- 
Pope  Clement  XIV.,  in  1773,  it  was  for  a  season 
suppressed.  Besides  vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  and 
monastic  obedience,  the  Spanish  knight,  in  estab- 
lishing this  order,  made  it  a  most  powerful  engine 
of  efficacious  intrigue,  by  adding  that  of  implicit 
obedience  to  the  pope.  Bound  to  go  wherever  he 
might  send  them,  and  to  go  on  any  "  warfare  on 
their  own  charges,"  they,  to  compensate  for  the  want 
of  "  purse  and  scrip,"  not  only  at  all  times  claimed 
to  be  the  alone  suitable  instructors  of  youth,  but 
they  obtained  also,  besides  the  sources  of  wealth 
common  to  all  the*regular  clergy,  a  special  license 
from  the  court  of  Rome  to  trade  with  the  nations 
whom  they  might  labor  to  convert.  Hence  their 
influences  have  been  felt  in  both  hemispheres,  and 
being  "restored  to"  their  "  butlership  again,"  they 
now,  more  or  less,  closely  keep  watch  behind  the 
thrones  of  the  leading  potentates  on  earth. 

They  have  establishments  at  Rome,  Sicily, 
Naples,  Turin,  Paris,  Lyons,  in  Spain,  Belgium, 
England,  Austria,  Ireland,  Germany,  Maryland, 
Canada,  New  York,  Massachusetts,  and  probably 
elsewhere.  They  had  in  these  provinces,  on  January 
1,  1844,  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  establish- 
ments, and  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  members,  which,  during  that  year,  were  in- 
creased to  four  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven. 

The  obstructions  to  their  progress  growing  daily 


188  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

less,  as  a  superabundant  faith  or  a  want  of  a  pre- 
cise belief  in  "  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Savior " 
prevails,  it  must  not  be  deemed  a  strange  thing  if, 
in  a  generation  or  two,  under  these  and  other  mis- 
sionary appliances  which  "  the  man  of  sin  "  is  now 
wielding  with  "  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,"  the 
righteous  should  be  again  driven  into  "dens  and 
caves,"  and  that  the  thrones  of  princes  and  the 
governments  of  mock  republics  *  (founded  on  any 
thing  else  than  the  knowledge  of  the  Presbyterian 
principles  of  the  Bible)  should,  throughout  the 
whole  earth,  "  receive  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and 
that  all,  both  small  and  great,  rich  and  poor,  free 
and  bond,  might  buy  or  sell  only  as  they  have  his 
name  or  the  number  of  his  name." 

In  view  of  the  missionary  labors  of  the  Papacy 
in  purpose,  character,  or  efficiency,  the  only  hope 
for  truth  and  righteousness  among  our  race  is,  that 
"  the  earth  "  shall  in  due  season  be  made  to  "  help 
the  woman,"  and  that  "  the  Lord  shall  consume 
that  wicked  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  de- 
stroy him  with  the  brightness  of  his  coming." 

On  this  field  of  operation  the  Anglican  church 
entered  in  1698,  by  the  formation  of  the  "  Society 
for  promoting  Christian  Knowledge,"  and  in  1701 
she  organized  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  Knowledge  in  Foreign  Parts,"  to  which  was 
added  in  1800  the  "  Church  Missionary  Society." 

*  Witness,  c.  ?.,  Mexico. 


MISSIONS.  189 

The  first  foreign  Lutheran  missionary  appears  to 
have  been  Michael,  who,  in  1559,  was  sent  into 
Lapland  by  Gustavus  Vasa,  King  of  Sweden. 
In  the  foreign  field  we  do  not  again  discover  any 
of  this  type  of  prelacy  until,  by  the  King  of  Den- 
mark, in  1705,  a  mission  was  commenced  at 
Tranquebar,  in  Hindoostan. 

Among  Protestants,  the  missionary  zeal  of  the 
Moravians  has  not  been  exceeded.  "  Their  mis- 
sionaries are  all  volunteers.  They  persuade  no 
man  to  engage  in  missions;"*  yet  so  powerfully 
does  the  principle  of  individual  obligation  operate, 
that  where  one  or  more  consider  it  to  be  their  duty 
to  embark  in  the  establishment  of  a  new  mission, 
several  are  usually  ready  to  join  ;  and  they  seldom 
make  such  attempt  without,  at  least,  five  or  six 
concurring  in  the  enterprise.  All,  however,  which 
is  efficient  in  their  character  should  rather  be  attrib- 
uted to  Presbyterianism,  as  the  Episcopal  element 
of  power  enters  into  this  denomination  only  in  ref- 
erence to  the  ordination  of  ministers.  The  power 
of  ordination  and  of  rule  being  lodged  in  the 
bishopric  among  the  Protestant  Episcopalians  in 
the  United  States,  societyism  did  not  find  favor 
until  1820,  when  by  them  a  domestic  and  foreign 
missionary  society  were  formed. 

Of  the  Protestant  divisions  of  Episcopal  regimen, 
that  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  has  far  eclipsed  the 

*  Hayward. 


190  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

rest.  Having  assumed  the  authority,  which  he  has 
delegated  to  his  successors  in  rule,  to  appoint  when, 
and  where,  and  how  his  ministers  should  preach, 
"he,  being  dead,  yet"  reigneth;  has  only  to  "say  to 
one,  Go,  and  he  goeth;  to  another,  Come,  and  he 
cometh ;  and  to  a  third,  Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it." 
How  far  the  elements  of  posthumous  fame  entered 
into  his  chosen  ecclesiastical  organization  may  be 
a  matter  of  debate;  but  in  selecting  a  compound 
of  Prelatic  assumption  and  of  Congregational  in- 
dividual self-importance  and  obligation,  he  has 
evinced  much  human  wisdom,  and  given  life  and 
energy  to  his  missionary  operations.  Hence,  in 
bearing  the  names  of  Wesley  and  Methodist  to  re- 
mote parts  of  the  earth,  those  who  adopt  this  type 
of  Arminianism  find,  in  offering  themselves  as  mis- 
sionaries, nothing  at  variance  either  with  denomi- 
national fame,  (to  which  they  are  not  insensible,)  nor 
the  innate  pride  of  the  human  heart,  while  the  con- 
ference or  the  bishops  have  power  to  bind  them 
firmly  to  the  horns  of  the  altar  as  frequently  as  the 
means  of  sustentation  can  be  obtained.  So  that, 
notwithstanding  their  imaginary  idea  that  "  men 
can  be  saved  without  the  gospel  if"  this  denomina- 
tion stands  prominently  forward  in  the  missionary 
field. 

Among  Presbyterians,  in  apostolic  times,  when 
evangelists  were  ordained  "  by  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  the  presbytery,"  and  when  they  "  ordained 
them  elders  in  every  church,"  the  spirit  of  the  de- 


MISSIONS.  191 

nomination  was  preeminently  missionary.  "  The 
field  is  the  world."  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,"  were  their  in- 
structions, and  the  demand  made  upon  their  labors ; 
and  they  went  forth  and  preached  every  where, 
until  they  had  "  turned  the  world  upside  down." 
For  centuries  this  continued  to  be  the  case,  until 
by  conformity  to  this  world  and  union  to  the  state, 
the  church  of  Christ  was  overtaken  with  the  prelatic 
slumbers  of  the  dark  ages. 

Such  is  the  relative  position  of  pastor  and  peo- 
ple, of  rulers  and  ruled,  under  this  radical  division, 
that  it  not  only  becomes  the  duty  of  every  minister 
to  look  out  and  encourage  young  men  of  promise 
to  prepare  to  "  preach  Christ  crucified,"  but  where 
any  individual  feels  moved  to  devote  himself  to 
this  work,  and  they  find  him  able  to  divide  the 
word  of  truth,  it  devolves  upon  the  presbytery  to 
give  to  him  "the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  to  take 
part  in  their  ministry."  Consequently,  the  reason 
why  these  relative  and  mutual  duties  are  not  at 
any  time  performed,  and  why  laborers  do  not  offer 
themselves  abundantly  in  proportion  to  the  neces- 
sities of  our  perishing  world,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
depravity  of  our  nature,  and  that  consequent  sloth- 
ful indifference  to  the  affairs  of  "  the  house  of  God," 
which  is  reproved  by  the  apostle  when  he  says, 
"  All  men  seek  their  own,  not  the  things  which  are 
Jesus  Christ's." 

Ease,  indifference,  avarice,  with  other  like  opera- 


192  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

tions  of  our  unsanctified  nature,  s  all  conspire  to 
blunt  the  edge  of  personal  obligation,  and  to  induce 
the  young  men  m  this  radical  division  too  often  to 
say,  "  Send,  Lord,  by  whom  thou  wilt  send ; "  "I  do 
not  feel  ready  to  go  ;  do  not  send  by  me."  Hence 
modern  Presbyterians  have  generally  entered  the 
missionary  field  late  in  the  day,  and  then  only 
when  led  on  and  provoked  to  it  by  others. 

When  we  survey  the  characteristics  of  the  other 
radical  division,  its  influence  on  this  department 
of  Christian  duty  is  more  marked  than  perhaps  on 
any  other.  Renouncing  the  authority  of  prelates 
and  presbyteries,  each  individual  feels  not  only  his 
personal  importance,  but  occasionally,  also,  he  feels, 
it  may  be  more  deeply,  than  others  his  obligations, 
and  says,  "  If  it  be  duty  to  go  preach  to  the  perish- 
ing, it  is  my  duty  as  well  as  that  of  others,  and  I 
will  go;  here  am  I;  send  me."  In  this  way  the 
social  compact  is  brought  into  valuable  use.  Not 
that,  in  this  point  of  view,  there  is  in  it  any  thing 
original,  for  this  sense  of  duty  is  imbodied  in  Pres- 
byterianism,  where  every  pious  youth,  when  his  in- 
clinations so  move  him,  may  "  desire  the  office  of 
a  bishop;"  and  then,  if  his  pastor  or  presbytery  have 
neglected  to  seek  him  out  and  encourage  him, 
they  can  now,  when  he  makes  the  proposal,  in  part, 
at  least,  cover  their  neglect. 

The  individual,  unrepresented,  or  personal  posi- 
tion is  older  among  intelligent  existences  than  that 
of    the  federal  or   representative  ;  and    men  often 


MISSIONS.  193 

"aspire,"  in  this  respect,  "to  be  angels."  Each 
one  desires  to  act  for  himself.  In  their  rebellion, 
those  high  intelligences,  "  who  kept  not  their  first 
estate,"  sinned  under  the  influences  of  the  social 
compact,  "  Go  to,  let  us,"  while  man  sinned  by  rep- 
resentation. "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon 
all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned.  By  the  offence 
of  one  man  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  con- 
demnation." Such  is  the  principle  under  which 
men  became  sinners. 

The  reality  of  such  a  representation  the  genius 
of  Congregational  church  government  eschews,  and 
finds  its  life,  its  activities,  and  its  pleasures  in  the 
idea  of  personal  accountability  and  the  gratified 
love  of  power,  when  and  where  individual  influence 
has  been,  or  may  be,  successfully  exercised  over 
others.  The  idea  of  making  even  one  proselyte  to 
the  opinions  of  the  individual  here  operates  power- 
fully. Whatever  may  be  the  chosen  type  of  reli- 
gious belief  with  the  individual,  whether  true  or 
false,  while  on  the  one  hand  he  claims  the  absolute 
right  to  liberty  of  opinion,  he  on  the  other  is  also 
ready  to  say,  I  "  would  to  God  that  all  were  both 
almost  and  altogether  such  as  I  am,"  and  under  a 
full  share  of  partisan  zeal  he  labors  j;o  have  them 
so.  Hence,  where  "the  love  of  Christ  constrains" 
the  soul,  and  the  eye  of  observation  beholds  "  the 
whole  world  lying  in  wickedness,"  bowels  of  com- 
passion are  often  moved,  and  we  see  a  Carey,  a 
17 


194 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


Mills,  a  Judson,  a  Newell,  a  Moffat,  and  many 
others  departing  "  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles."  This 
is  done,  however,  only  where  there  are  indeed 
"  bowels  of  mercies  "  in  exercise.  Surveyed  philo- 
sophically in  its  own  character,  this  species  of  regi- 
men rather  inclines  the  individual  to  self-importance, 
and  to  a  calculating  self-interest,  where  every  aim 
looks  steadily  to  self-aggrandizement  and  personal 
honor. 

In  relation  to  that  with  which  we  have  more  im- 
mediately to  do,  —  the  Congregationalism  of  New 
England  —  it  has  a  specific  type  of  character.  The 
colonists  of  Massachusetts  Bay  did  not,  as  I  read 
their  history,  like  those  who  landed  on  Plymouth 
Rock,  leave  Britain  solely  for  "  freedom  to  worship 
God."  They  kept  this  object  prominently  in  view, 
but  connected  it  with  commerce.  Hence,  said  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Higginson,  of  SaJem,  "  If  any  man  make 
commerce  to  religion  as  thirteen  to  twelve,  he  mis- 
takes the  character  of  a  New  England  man." 

These  traits,  to  my  optics,  have  an  existence  in 
the  zeal  and  energy  with  which  their  descendants 
devote  themselves  to  missions.  At  an  early  day, 
missionaries  left  the  land  of  the  Puritans  for  the  wil- 
derness of  the  Southern  States,  and  they  still  steadily 
press  their  peculiar  "customs"  and  church  govern- 
ment* upon  the  expanding  and  receding  "West." 


*  Said  a  Deacon   Russell  in  Chicago,  in  1835,  to  the  writer,  4<  We 
wish  to  do  every  thing  here  just  as  they  do  in  Boston." 


MISSIONS.  ]  9o 

Within  a  generation,  or  a  little  more,  we  see  also  a 
nation  born  by  their  instrumentality,  and  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  elevated  from  the  pollutions  of  pagan 
idolatry  to  the  rank  of  a  Christian  kingdom,* 
while  to  various  other  portions  of  the  earth  they 
have  extensively  aided  in  carrying  the  tidings  of 
salvation. 

In  the  aggregation  of  personal  labor,  being  desti- 
tute of  a  scriptural  church  government,  they  have 
to  cooperate  by  an  association  called  a  board  —  an 
oligarchy,  to  some  degree  irresponsible,  and  which 
cannot  scripturally,  in  the  name  and  by  the  au- 
thority of  Christ,  "  take  heed  to  the  doctrine " 
among  those  who  are,  even  by  their  own  instru- 
mentality, "  turned  from  dumb  idols  to  serve  the 
living  God."  It  is  not  a  probable  supposition  that 
men  and  women  awaking  from  the  stupor  of 
pagan  pollution  can  correctly  determine  the  doc- 
trine, government,  worship,  and  discipline  of  the 
house  of  God,  according  to  "the  mind  of  Christ," 
on  the  day  in  which,  in  the  judgment  of  charity, 
they  might  safely  be  admitted  to  the  fold,  and  be 
"added  to  the  church"  as  the  lambs  of  Christ's 
flock.  Hence,  notwithstanding  that  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  with  the  Constitutional  Presbyterians 
and  the  Reformed  Dutch  church,  have  assumed  a 
name  for  their  "  board,"  as  long  and  broad  as  our 

*  In  the  Sandwich  Islands,  all  but  the  king  and  chiefs  were  slaves ; 
and  there,  in  thirty  years,  one  hundred  thousand  souls  have  been  made 
free.  —  Dr.  Treat  or  Pomeroy. 


196  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

continent,  they  cannot,  neither  as  denominations  nor 
as  a  board,  always  vouch  for  the  precise  type  of 
doctrine  which  their  missionaries  think  proper  to 
teach  in  the  one  hundred  and  three  churches  (now,  in 
1854)  connected  with  their  missions.  And  does  not 
the  modesty  of  those  who,  although  first  in  the  work, 
retain  the  name  of  the  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreign  Missions,  almost  seem  ques- 
tionable in  this  particular,  when  there  are  engaged 
according  to  their  several  abilities,  in  the  foreign 
field,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal,  the  Moravian,  the  Old  School  Presby- 
terians, the  Baptists,  the  Reformed  Presbyterians, 
the  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterians,  and  others  ? 

Experience  also  forces  them  towards  the  scrip- 
tural order  of  presbytery,  for  necessity  compels 
them  to  intrust  the  things  of  the  house  of  God,  not 
to  the  social  compact  of  the  native  members  in  an 
aggregate  vote,  but  to  those  who  occupy  the  place 
of  teaching  elders,  and  who,  for  some  time  at  least, 
in  each  station,  must  be  the  missionaries  them- 
selves. While,  then,  I  view  the  most  beneficial 
effects  which  ever  arise  from  this  order  of  ecclesias- 
tical regimen  as  shown  in  bringing  into  action  the 
missionary  spirit,  yet  I  by  no  means  admit  that  the 
social  compact  can  more  efficiently  sustain  the 
cause  and  advance  all,  or  even  any,  of  its  interests, 
than  either  of  the  other  two  forms. 

Presbytery,  from  the  time  when  it  awoke  (as  in- 
deed it  has  only  yet  partially  done)  to  a  sense  of 


MISSIONS.  197 

duty,  has  not  been  "  a  whit  behind  "  its  competitors. 
Although  the  Sandwich  Islands  stand  out  in  attrac- 
tive and  bold  relief,  still  their  acquaintance  with  the 
"  things  which  are  lovely,  and  honest,  and  of  good 
report "  have  been  the  result  of  above  thirty  years' 
labor,  while  in  India,  in  half  that  time,  at  least  a 
proportionate  invasion  has  been  made  on  the  lands 
of  darkness;  and  there  Presbyterians  have  now  a 
synod  and  various  presbyteries,  churches,  and 
"elders  ordained  in  every  church,"  according  to 
apostolic  order.  The  future  there  is  also  to  them 
equally  bright  with  hope.  While  this  scriptural 
order  of  government  is,  at  least,  equally  aggressive, 
when  compared  with  either  of  the  other  two  among 
the  heathen,  the  Mussulmans,  or  the  Papists,  it 
forms  preeminently  -;  the  hope  of  Israel  according 
to  the  flesh,"  and  as  a  successful  instrumentality  it 
is  adapted,  under  the  divine  blessing,  to  the  conver- 
sion of  that  people,  just  as  its  adherents  tenaciously 
hold  forth  the  simplicity  of  synagogue  worship. 
This  has  been  shown  by  the  success  of  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Free  church  of  Scotland  (during 
the  brief  period  of  their  labors)  among  the  Jew;.. 
"Where  men  present  to  "  the  seed  of  Jacob "  the 
simple  worship  of  the  synagogue,  and  ask  them  to 
join  in  singing  one  of  "Jehovah's  songs,"  (Ps. 
cxxxvii..)  they  touch  a  chord  to  which,  even  under 
that  "blindness  in  part  which  has  happened  to  Israel," 
indifference,  prejudice,  and  opposition  must,  by  the 
agency  of  God  the  Spirit,  yield.  Where  Presby- 
17* 


198  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

terians  are  consistent  in  their  own  acts  of  worship, 
and  sing  to  the  praise  of  God,  only 

"  Those  strains,  which  once 
Did  sweet  in  Zion  glide," 

their  instrumentality  may,  for  simplicity  and  effi- 
ciency, be  compared  to  the  sling  and  smooth  stones 
employed  by  David ;  while  the  gorgeous  trappings 
of  prelacy,  in  all  its  "  rites  and  ceremonies,"  and  its 
other  peculiarities  of  hymns,  choirs,  and  organs,  so 
far  as  these  are  adopted  by  Congregationalists, 
will,  among  both,  be  as  the  armor  of  Saul,  a 
cumbersome  and  unsafe  panoply.  The  proof  of 
this  will  appear  to  the  candid  mind,  when  a  com- 
parison is  instituted  between  the  simple  scriptural 
labors  of  those  men  whose  "  flight  was  in  the 
winter  "  from  prelatic  power  in  Pesth,  and  the  zeal- 
ous labors  of  the  Rev.  Bishop  Gobat  and  his  clergy 
at  Jerusalem,  even  when  supported  by  two  of  the 
most  important  thrones  on  earth.* 

When  the  "  sweet  psalm  "  was  sung  in  the  dwell- 
ing of  the  missionary  at  morning  and  evening  wor- 
ship, it  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Jewish  ear 
without,  and  prompted  the  request,  that  in  surround- 
ing the  house  they  should  not  be  considered  as  in- 
truders. 

The  breathings  of  scriptural  devotion  on  the  part 
of  the   followers  of   the    Nazarene.  aroused  those 

*  Those  of  Britain  and  Prussia. 


MISSIONS.  199 

associations,  of  which  their  fathers  had  told  them,  of 
the  doings  of  God  in  the  days  of  old,  in  the  ways 
of  Zion,  and  in  the  dwellings  of  the  righteous, 
when  "  God  was  known  in  Judah,  and  his  name 
was  great  in  Israel."  *  While  they  might  be  much 
more  extensively  exhibited,  such  are  some  of  the 
peculiarities  respectively  of  the  three  forms  of  ec- 
clesiastical rule,  when  applied  to  the  great  subject 
of  missions. 

*  Their  scriptural  simplicity  in  worship  formed  the  secret  of  their  suc- 
cess, under  the  divine  blessing,  until  they  were  expelled  from  their 
labors  of  love  by  Papal  prelacy. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ON  MARRIAGE  AND   INCEST. 

By  the  institution  of  marriage,  God  has  placed 
mankind  in  families,  and  this  arrangement  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  all  that  is  "  lovely  and  pure,  true 
and  honest,  just  and  of  good  report"  upon  the 
earth.  Upon  this  institution  church  government 
lays  its  plastic  hand,  and  on  it  leaves  a  specific,  a 
distinct  impression. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  Scripture,  as  read  by 
Presbyterians,  it  is  regarded  as  a  covenant  in  which 
God  is  Witness  and  Judge ;  and  although  "  it  is 
lawful  for  all  sorts  of  people  to  marry  who  may  be 
able  with  judgment  to  give  their  consent,  yet  it  is 
the  duty  of  Christians  to  marry  only  in  the  Lord ; 
and  therefore  such  as  profess  the  true  reformed  re- 
ligion should  not  marry  with  infidels,  Papists,  nor 
other  idolaters,  neither  should  such  as  are  godly  be 
unequally  yoked  by  marrying  with  such  as  are  no- 
toriously wicked  in  their  life,  or  maintain  damnable 
heresies." 

"  Marriage  ought  not  to  be  within  the  degrees 
of  consanguinity  nor  affinity  forbidden  in  the 
word,  nor  can  such  incestuous  marriages  ever  be 

(200) 


MARRIAGE  AND  TNCEST.  201 

made  lawful  by  any  law  of  man  or  consent  of 
parties,  so  that  those  persons  may  live  together  as 
man  and  wife.  The  man  may  not  marry  any  of  the 
wife's  kindred  nearer  in  blood  than  he  may  of  his  own, 
nor  the  woman  of  her  husband's  kindred  nearer  in 
blood  than  of  her  own."  Such  has  been  the  ec- 
clesiastical statute  law  of  Presbyterians  for  above 
two  hundred  years,  and  it  has  been  virtually  their 
ecclesiastical  equity  and  common  law  of  marriage 
and  incest,  since  the  meeting  of  that  synod  at  Jeru- 
salem, in  which  the  apostles  and  other  elders  "  or- 
dained "  their  "  decree  "  concerning  "  fornication," 
and  sent  it  forth  authoritatively  to  the  presbyteries 
and  churches. 

From  this  simple  scriptural  exhibition  of  this  or- 
dinance of  God,  Papal  Prelacy  dissents.  "  The 
man  of  sin  "  denies  that  it  is  lawful  for  his  bishops 
and  priests  to  have  wives  of  their  own;  makes  mar- 
riage a  sacrament  equal  to  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
supper;  pretends  that  it  can  only  be  suitably  solem- 
nized by  a  (so  called)  priest,  or  other  holy  man,  at  an 
altar  in  a  church,  and  not  freely  during  what  Holy 
Mother  calls  Lent.*  Consequently  where  it  is 
formed  between  a  Protestant  and  a  Papist,  or  in 
such  a  case  solemnized  by  a  Protestant,  any  "  prom- 
ise inconsistent  with  the  principles  and  practice  of 
the  "  Romish  "  church  "  is  considered  to  be  a  bad 
promise,  and  must  be  broken.f 

*  The  Greek  church  observes  four  Lents  annually,  and  with  her, 
marriage  is  not  a  sacrament, 
f  McGavin,  Vol.  I.  p.  511. 


202  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

In  the  Anglican  church  it  is  called  "  holy  matri- 
mony," and  although  not  regarded  as  a  sacrament 
essential  to  salvation,  yet  it  looks  so  far  that  way, 
that  "  on  the  day  and  time  appointed  the  persons 
to  be  married  shall  come  into  the  body  of  the 
church,"  and  after  other  ceremonies,  "  the  man  shall 
give  unto  the  woman  a  ring,  laying  the  same  upon 
the  book  with  the  accustomed  duty  to  the  priest 
and  clerk.  And  the  priest,  taking  the  ring,  shall 
deliver  it  unto  the  man,  to  put  it  upon  the  fourth 
finger  of  the  woman's  left  hand.  And  the  man, 
holding  the  ring  there,  and  taught  by  the  priest, 
shall  say,  With  this  ring  I  thee  wed,  with  my  body 
I  thee  worship,  and  with  all  my  worldly  goods  I 
thee  endow.  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen."  After  this, 
they  are  both  required  to  kneel,  while  the  minister 
engages  in  reading  a  prayer  and  finishing  the 
remaining  ceremonies.  It  is  then  declared  to  be 
"  convenient  that  the  new  married  persons  should 
receive  the  holy  communion  at  the  time  of  their 
marriage,  or  at  the  first  opportunity  after  their 
marriage." 

In  much  of  this,  Presbyterians  see  a  faith  founded 
on  something  in  addition  to  the  word  of  God, 
founded  on  the  assumed  authority  of  the  church  to 
decree  rites  and  ceremonies,  if  not  founded  on  the 
traditions  of  the  dark  ages.  In  their  simple  scrip- 
tural views,  the  most  appropriate  place  for  marriage 
is   not  the   house  devoted  to  the  solemnities  of 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  203 

divine  worship,  where  "  great  fear  in  meeting  of  the 
saints  is  due  unto  the  Lord,"  but  the  domestic 
habitation,  the  parental  dwelling.  In  the  Scriptures, 
the  season  is  always  represented  as  one  of  joy  and 
•exquisite  social  intercourse.  "  The  bridegroom 
then  rejoices  over  the  bride,  and  the  bride  comes 
forth  adorned  for  her  husband,  while  the  friends  of 
the  bridegroom  rejoice  greatly  because  of  the  bride- 
groom's voice."  To  them  it  has  no  sacramental 
airs,  no  kneeling  at  an  altar,  and  to  them  marriage 
is  (although  it  forms  an  emblem  of  his  affection  for 
his  church)  of  a  character  entirely  removed  from 
the  commemoration  of  the  love  of  our  Redeemer 
to  his  people  in  his  death.  While  they  do  not,  in 
it,  countenance  sensuality  and  the  laughter  of  fools, 
yet  by  them  it  is  viewed  as  a  season  of  the  highest 
enjoyment  of  an  earth-born  nature.  In  all  the 
transactions  of  the  marriage  at  Cana  of  Galilee, 
Presbyterians  find  no  surplice  on  the  minister ;  no 
coming  into  the  body  of  the  church  ;  no  ring  placed 
upon  a  book ;  no  worshipping  of  the  woman  with 
the  man's  body,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  So  obtuse  also  are 
their  powers  uf  perception,  that  they  can  there  dis- 
cover no  kneeling  before  a  curate ;  no  coming  to  and 
kneeling  at  an  altar;  and  no  declaration  of  Him 
who  "  spake  as  never  man  spake,"  and  who  was 
then  present,  that  it  was  "  convenient  that  the  new 
married  persons  should  receive  the  holy  communion 
at  the  time  of  their  marriage." 


204  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Presbyterians  believe  that  even  the  "  early  writers 
on  church  history"  knew  nothing  of  these  prelatic 
"  rites  and  ceremonies  "  connected  now  with  mar- 
riage, and  that  so  far  from  a  young  man  and  woman 
receiving  the  Lord's  supper  simply  from  the  fact  of 
their  being  at  that  hour  united  as  husband  and 
wife,  the  proper  approach  to  that  sacrament  can  be 
made  only  by  a  man  examining  "  himself,  and  so 
eating  of  that  bread  and  drinking  of  that  cup." 
"  For  he  that  eateth  and  drinketh  unworthily  eateth 
and  drinketh  damnation  to  himself,  not  discerning 
the  Lord's  body."     1  Cor.  xi.  29. 

Believing  it  to  partake  of  a  civil  as  well  as  of 
a  sacred  compact,  and  to  be  neither  a  work  of  ne- 
cessity nor  one  of  mercy,  Presbyterians  are  careful 
not  to  invade  the  holiness  of  the  Sabbath  day  with 
the  laughter  of  the  marriage  feast ;  and  with  them, 
in  all  their  scriptural  peculiarities,  as  opposed  to 
those  of  Prelacy,  in  relation  to  this  institution,  the 
Independents  and  earlier  Congregationalists  co- 
incided. Different,  however,  is  the  case  with 
modern  Congregationalists.  Other  usages  have 
been  introduced  among  "the  churches,"  and  in 
these,  doubtless,  "the  good  hand  of  God"  has  the 
credit  of  "  moulding  them."  While  many  among 
them,  on  the  one  hand,  believe  so  little  in  the  effi- 
cacy of  prayer  on  the  occasion  as  to  avoid  the 
presence  of  a  clergyman  altogether,  and  to  transfer 
all  the  importance  of  the  transaction  to  the  Squire 
or  to  the   Quaker  form,  yet  so  much  of  the  im- 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  205 

aginary  idea  of  a  sacrament,  on  the  opposite  hand, 
overshadows  this  institution  among  others,  that 
many  must  borrow  from  Prelacy,  and  have  it  per- 
formed in  "  the  body  of  the  church,"  by  a  man 
rendered  apparently  prelatically  holy  by  cassock, 
gown,  and  bands.  In  illustration,  I  refer  the  reader 
to  the  following  item  from  the  Boston  Traveller  of 
July,  1851:  — 

"  On  a  late  Sabbath  evening,  while  Dr.  Welch, 
of  Albany,  was  in  the  midst  of  a  sermon,  '  a  pair 
were  waiting  to  be  married  after  the  sermon,  in  the 
rear  of  the  audience,  and  were  to  be  called  forward 
by  the  sexton.  But  the  latter  official,  having  be- 
come absorbed  in  drowsiness  or  contemplation  while 
the  reverend  doctor  was  preaching,  was  suddenly 
brought  to  his  recollection  by  hearing  the  doctor 
exclaim,  "  The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come  ! " 
Off  he  posted  to  the  wedding  party,  who,  of  course, 
had  not  understood  a  word  of  the  sermon,  and 
notified  them  that  the  moment  had  arrived  for  the 
performance  of  the  nuptial  ceremony.  They 
promptly  obeyed  the  summons,  and  the  bride  and 
bridegroom,  bridesmaid  and  groomsman,  came 
marching  down  the  broad  aisle  in  the  midst  of  the 
discourse.  The  preacher  finished  his  sentence,  de- 
scended from  the  pulpit,  tied  the  knot,  returned  to 
his  pulpit,  and  finished  his  discourse,  and  the  wed- 
ding party  were  not  at  all  sensibly  that  every  thing 
was  not  as  it  should  be. '  " 

If  the  doctor,  instead  of  being  a  Baptist,  and,  as 
18 


206  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM 

such,  necessarily  a  Congregationalist,  had  been  a 
full  believer  in  the  teachings  of  the  Westminster 
confession  of  faith,  these  humorous,  comical,  and 
unscriptural  associations  could  never  have  been 
grouped  in  the  place  of  his  ministry  on  the  Sab- 
bath evening.  The  only  part,  however,  of  the 
scenes  with  which  a  modern  Congregation alist  may 
not  be  familiar,  or,  at  least,  find  among  "  the  cus- 
toms of  the  churches,"  would  be  the  episode  of  the 
marriage,  and  "  the  accustomed  duty  to  the  priest 
and  clerk,"  or  sexton,  "  in  the  midst  of  the  sermon." 

That  not  a  few  Presbyterians  in  America  are 
adopting  these  and  other  chosen  "  customs  of  the  " 
Congregation  alist  "  churches "  in  relation  to  the 
place  and  time  of  marriage,  is  no  valid  objection 
against  my  position.  They  do  not  alter  the  scrip- 
tural usages  of  proper  Presbyterians,  but  abandon 
these  for  those  which  may  be  more  fashionable 
or  popular.  Consequently  they  diminish  propor- 
tionably  their  just  claims  to  this  appellative, 
Presbyterian,  and  should,  in  honesty,  wear  the 
generic  name  of  those  with  whom  they  thus  sym- 
bolize and  act. 

The  Presbyterian  law  of  incest  I  have  quoted 
above,  and  in  reference  to  this  species  of  pollution, 
as  viewed  by  Prelatists,  it  is  at  times  made  lawful 
in  the  Papal  church  by  a  dispensation  from  the  pope. 
"  The    Queen   of  Portugal  *  was   married   to    her 

*  Says  the  Rev.  Charles  Buck. 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  207 

uncle,  and  the  Prince  of  Brazil,  the  son  of  that  in- 
cestuous marriage,  wedded  his  aunt.  But  they 
had  dispensations  for  these  unnatural  marriages 
from  his  holiness."  By  disregarding  "the  remon- 
strances of  Pope  Clement  VIL,"  and  by  asking 
counsel  "  of  the  most  learned  European  universi- 
ties " ,  concerning  the  propriety  of  his  "  marriage 
with  a  brother's  widow,"  a  majority  of  whom 
"declared"  such  marriage  unlawful,  King  Henry 
VIIL,  when  "  declared  by  the  Parliament  and  peo- 
ple supreme  head  on  earth  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land," took  this  matter  into  his  own  hands,  and  in 
due  time  the  Anglican  law  of  incest  was  regulated 
by  the  Mosaic  code.  Hence  *  "  the  Levitical  law 
which  is  received  in  this  country,  and  from  which 
the  rule  of  the  Roman  law  differs  very  little,  pro- 
hibits marriage  between  relations  within  three  de- 
grees of  kindred,  computing  the  generations  not 
from,  but  through,  the  common  ancestor,  and  ac- 
counting affinity  the  same  as  consanguinity.  The 
issue,  however,  of  such  marriages  are  not  bastard- 
ized, unless  the  parents  be  divorced  during  their 
lifetime.  In  the  Levitical,  or  English  law,  there  is 
nothing  to  hinder  a  man  from  marrying  his  great 
niece."  With  great  care  the  earlier  Independents 
and  Congregationalists  "walked  by  the  same  rule" 
with  Protestant  Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians  in 
regard  to  both  what  was  malum   hi  se  and  malum 

*  Says  Dr.  Paley,  Vol.  I.  p.  192. 


208  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

'prohibitum,  on  this  subject.  Under  the  light  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  however,  "  a  change  has 
come  over  the  spirit  of  their "  theology,  law,  and 
practice,  in  relation  to  incest,  and  the  prohibitions 
of  Puritan  statute  law,  in  common  with  some  other 
wholesome  restraints  which  served  so  extensively, 
under  sound  doctrinal  preaching,  to  make.  New 
England  New  England,  have  been  viewed  as  relics 
of  "  old,  stiff-necked,  conservative,  vinegar-faced 
evangelicals."  Practices  "  sufficiently  divine  "  have 
arisen  in  "  the  churches,"  one  or  two  of  which  I 
shall  now  endeavor  to  consider,  as  in  proof  of  my 
radical  position  ;  and  lest  I  be  charged  with  misrep- 
resentation, I  shall  endeavor  to  do  this,  as  far  as 
practicable,  in  the  language  of  others.  I  refer  to 
the  marriage  of  a  man  to  his  wife's  sister,  and  of  a 
woman  to  her  husband's  brother. 

I  quote  from  S.  E.  Dwight,  Esq.,  the  author 
of  the  Hebrew  Wife.  Says  he,  in  1836,  "  Some 
years  since,  in  consequence  of  a  complaint  made 
in  due  form  of  law,  and  substantiated  by  satisfac- 
tory evidence,  it  became  the  author's  official  duty 
to  institute  a  prosecution  for  an  incestuous  mar- 
riage. On  examining  the  statute  book,  however, 
the  degree  of  affinity  between  the  parties  was  dis- 
covered to  be  more  remote  than  in  other  cases  that 
had  been  legalized.  The  individual  was  prosecuted, 
and  the  offence  proved ;  but  the  court,  instead  of 
passing  sentence,  adjourned  the  case,  that  he  might 
petition   the   legislature   for   an   alteration  of  the 


MARRIAGE  AND  INCEST.  209 

statute.  He  did  so.  The  section  forbidding  the 
given  marriage  was  repealed,  and  the  prosecution, 
of  course,  fell  through." 

His  labor  was  not,  however,  lost,  as  any  candid 
reader  of  his  work  may  readily  discover.  He  not 
only  "investigated  the  reasonings  of  two  of  the 
ablest  jurists  of  the  country,  and  the  scriptural  law 
of  incest,"  but  he  has  also  presented  the  origin  of 
the  custom. 

"  To  our  American  legislatures,"  says  he,  "  be- 
longs the  honor  of  the  discovery  that  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  churches,  doubtless*  from  the  love 
of  supererogatory  obedience  so  natural  to  man, 
submitted,  for  more  than  three  thousand  years,  to 
various  restraints  on  their  marriages,  which  were 
wholly  unenjoined  by  the  law  of  God.  Since  this 
discovery,  they  have,  to  say  the  least,  deserved  no 
censure  for  not  removing  these  restraints  as  soon  as 
they  could  make  them  out  to  be  supererogatory. 

"  The  curious  reader,  in  examining  some  of  our 
statute  books,  will  be  struck  with  sundry  nice  dis- 
tinctions made  between  lawful  and  unlawful  mar- 
riages. In  various  instances  he  will  find  that  a 
man  is  allowed  to  marry  his  wife's  sister  or  niece, 
while  a  woman  is  forbidden  to  marry  her  husband's 
brother  or  nephew.  In  endeavoring  to  account  for 
these  distinctions,  he  may,  perhaps,  imagine  that 
the  law  makers  were  guided  by  a  modern  notion  — 
that  a  woman  is  more  nearly  related  to  her  husband 
than  a  man  to  his  wife.  This,  however,  could  not 
18* 


210  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

have  occasioned  them,  for  the  statutes  in  which 
they  are  found  were  made  before  the  publication 
of  the  pamphlet  in  which  this  notion  was  first  pro- 
mulgated. Their  real  origin  is  to  be  traced  to  the 
following  facts  :  The  law  makers  were  exclusively 
men ;  men  usually  wish  to  marry  women  who  are 
younger  than  themselves ;  men  commonly  prefer 
maids  to  widows.  A  brother's  wife  and  an  uncle's 
wife,  to  be  marriageable,  must,  of  course,  be  widows ; 
and  the  latter  is  usually  older  than  her  correlative, 
a  husband's  nephew;  but  this  is  not  the  case  with 
a  wife's  sister  or  a  wife's  niepe.  Had  the  law- 
makers been  women, —  as  ladies  are  willing  to 
marry  men  older  than  themselves,  and  do  not  refuse 
widowers  when  they  cannot  get  bachelors,  —  the 
popular  feeling  in  the  legislatures  would  probably 
have  been  in  favor  of  all  four  of  the  exemptions, 
and  would  doubtless  have  required  a  brother's  wife 
and  an  uncle's  wife  to  be  placed  on  as  high  ground 
as  a  wife's  sister  and  a  wife's  niece.  This  opera- 
tion of  female  views  and  sympathies  on  our  mar- 
riage acts  would  have  brushed  away  several  odious 
distinctions  without  a  difference,  would  have  made 
the  statute  books  consistent  with  themselves,  and 
would  have  put  widows  and  widowers  on  a  level. 

"  Since  these  innovations  on  the  law  of  incest, 
various  marriages,  long  regarded  as  incestuous, 
have  become  common.  The  instinctive  horror 
which  the  bare  thought  of  such  connection  once 
excited  has  too  extensively  given  way  to  the  sane- 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  211 

tion  of  law  and  the  turbulence  of  passion.  Those 
whose  only  standard  of  action  is  the  law  of  the 
land,  and  who  regard  every  thing  as  right  which  is 
safe,  —  a  description  which  includes  the  vast  major- 
ity of  every  community,  —  have,  of  course,  con- 
tracted them  without  a  scruple.  To  such  men,  the 
marriage  of  a  wife's  sister,  if  the  wife  have  a 
younger  sister,  or,  if  not,  of  a  wife's  niece,  is  the 
most  convenient  imaginable.  A  wife's  sister  comes 
under  the  roof,  and  the  parties  are,  of  course,  inti- 
mately acquainted,  and  often  together.  A  present 
affection  is  already  their  duty,  and  a  future  connec- 
tion, under  a  change  of  circumstances,  has  become 
lawful.  Conscience  has  been  laid  by  the  statute, 
and  no  longer  '  holds  the  heart  in  chains  against  the 
seduction  of  beauty.'  Perhaps  no  situation  can  be 
imagined  where,  ceteris  paribus,  an  embryo  spark 
will  so  easily  be  struck,  which  at  a  convenient  time 
will  be  fanned  into  a  flame.  She  is  present,  also, 
at  the  critical  moment ;  and  by  her  sympathy  and 
tenderness,  quickens  emotions  of  which  she  is  ap- 
parently unconscious. 

'  'Tis  but  a  kindred  string  to  move, 
For  pity  melts  the  soul  to  love.' 

"  The  bereaved  family,  and  particularly  the  parties 
in  question,  who  are  now,  de  facto,  '  the  united 
head'  of  it,  find  themselves  for  a  while  —  such  are 
the  customs  of  society  —  chiefly  secluded  from 
company ;  often  alone  together,  solum  cum  sola,  si 


212  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

non  omnibus  horis,  saltern  vespertinis,  quando  solitudo, 
tenebrce,  tristitia  etiam,  memoria,  cvpido  —  omnia 
flammis  surgentibus  favent ;  et  citius  fide,  etiam 
710 cte  silenti  vix  divulsos ;  and  thus  with  less  and 
less  reluctance  constrained  to  depend  on  each  other 
for  all  that  solaces  and  sweetens  life.  Long  before 
they  are  aware,  they  have  become  mutually  neces- 
sary, and  many  months  anterior  to  the  time  when  the 
deposition  of  weeds  is  customary,  they  have  made 
to  each  other  a  complete  development  of  what 
the  actual  state  of  things  is,  as  well  as  a  satisfac- 
tory demonstration  of  what  is  soon  to  be.  No 
courtship  is  so  easy  as  this.  It  begins,  they  know 
not,  they  are  afraid  to  know,  when  ;  it  is  carried  on, 
they  know  not,  they  are  not  willing  to  know,  how ; 
it  is  completed,  (all  excepting  the  concluding  cere- 
mony,) very  often,  without  having  been  suspected, 
even  by  those  busybodies  who  worm  out  and 
publish  every  other  affair  of   a  similar  nature. 

"  A  few  individuals,  also,  possessing  minds  more 
enlightened,  and  a  morality  more  elevated,  have 
given  to  the  marriage  in  question  the  authority  of 
their  example.  A  few  have  thrown  around  it  '  the 
sanctity  of  their  lawn,'  a  few  have  enveloped  it  in 
'the  purity  of  their  ermine.'  Some  of  these, 
doubtless,  have  done  it  ignorantly,  or  hastily,  while 
others  have  first  investigated  its  lawfulness,  and 
then  have  hesitatingly  ventured.  But  the  investi- 
gation has  usually  been  commenced  because  the 
affections  were  fastened  and  the  purpose  formed ; 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  213 

and,  of  course,  has  been  pursued  with  less  exemp- 
tion from  prepossession  and  bias  than  truth  and 
fair  play  would  seem  to  require.  The  cool  logic  of 
the  intellect  is  at  best  a  feeble  advocate,  when 
opposed  by  the  warm  rhetoric  of  the  affections. 
While  the  head  is  umpire,  reason  and  argument 
will  usually  carry  the  day ;  but  when  the  heart  is 
on  the  bench,  a  single  impulse  will  put  to  flight  a 
whole  army  of  syllogisms.  Still,  decisions  made 
in  such  a  forum  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  prece- 
dents, or  as  entitled  to  all  that  authority  which  is 
allowed  to  adjudged  cases,  in  our  courts  of  law. 

"  A  few  of  the  more  enlightened,  also,  have,  with- 
out this  personal  bias,  arrived  at  the  same  conclu- 
sion. Some  in  this,  as  in  all  other  cases  of  mere 
morality  unconnected  with  loss  and  gain,  have, 
without  examination,  taken  the  popular  side  of  the 
question.  Others,  resolving  to  throw  off  the  shac- 
kles of  prejudice  and  prescription,  and  aided  by  the 
wri tings  of  unprincipled  Europeans,  have  adopted 
loose  and  licentious  notions  respecting  marriage. 
Among  these  notions  are  the  following:  That 
marriage  is  not  an  institution  of  God,  but  a  mere 
creature  of  municipal  law ;  that  the  marriage  con- 
tract is  merely  a  civil  contract,  liable,  like  every 
other  contract,  to  be  varied,  dissolved,  and  renewed 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  parties ;  and  that,  in  enact- 
ing laws  respecting  it,  the  legislature  is  not  bound 
to  regard  the  law  of  God  at  all,  but  merely  its  own 
views  of  the  good  of  the  state. 


214  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

"  The  effect  of  these  innovations  on  the  law  of 
incest  has  been  to  unsetile  the  minds  of  the  com- 
munity on  the  whole  subject,  to  introduce  a  loose 
and  vague  scepticism  with  regard  to  the  guilt  of 
incest  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  and  to  leave  a  pain- 
ful uncertainty  as  to  the  actual  extent  of  the  alter- 
ations to  which  the  original  law  has  been  subjected. 
The  people  at  large  rarely  consult  the  statute  book. 
Few  of  them,  so  far  as  my  observation  extends, 
appear  to  be  aware  that  inroads  have  been  made 
upon  the  law  of  incest  by  a  legislative  act;  yet, 
perceiving  that  marriages  are  actually  celebrated 
which  are  among  those  prohibited  at  the  end  of  the 
Old  Testament,  they  conclude  that  the  law  of  in- 
cest has  grown  obsolete.  Knowin g  propinquity  *  to 
be  the  only  ground  and  rule  of  incest,  they  natu- 
rally place  all  marriages,  where  the  degree  of  pro- 
pinquity is  the  same,  on  a  level.  The  consequence 
has  been,  that  marriages  still  pronounced  incestu- 
ous by  the  statute  book  have  been  extensively  con- 
tracted. The  parties  have  thus  ignorantly  exposed 
themselves  to  an  infamous  punishment,  and  their, 
children  to  the  loss  of  their  inheritance,  and  to  a 
disgraceful  epithet  under  circumstances  peculiarly 
humbling  and  painful.  I  have  known  two  instances 
of  marriage  between  an  uncle  and  niece,  and  have 
heard  of    one    between  a  half-brother   and    sister. 

*  "  By  the  word  propinquity  is  intended  nearness  in  general ;  by 
affinity,  nearness  by  marriage  ;  and  by  consanguinity,  nearness  by 
blood." 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  215 

So  general,  however,  is  the  impression  that  this  un- 
certainty is  fairly  attributable  to  the  legislature,  and 
to  the  zigzag  plight  of  the  statutes,  that  incest 
passes  unmolested  and  unnoticed.  Not  less  gen- 
eral, perhaps,  is  the  impression  that  incest,  except 
between  lineal  relations,  cannot  be  prosecuted  to 
effect.  These  facts  should  teach  us  to  '  leave  off' 
the  revisal  of  the  law  of  God,  '  before  it  be  meddled 
with.' 

"  In  investigating  the  subject  of  incest,  the  divine 
law  is  our  only  directory,  for  that  law  alone  is  uni- 
versally binding  on  the  human  race.  If  that  law 
prohibits'  incest,  it  is  a  sin;  if  it  does  not,  k  is 
innocent. 

"  The  most  natural  and  obvious  mode  of  con- 
ducting this  discussion  would  be  simply  to  ascer- 
tain what  marriages  are  pronounced  incestuous  by 
the  Scriptures.  This  course  I  would  gladly  take, 
were  it  possible ;  but  those  who  advocate  innova- 
tions on  the  ancient  law  of  incest  have  supported 
their  scheme  by  very  different  arguments.  Some 
of  them  contend  that  the  incest  prohibited  in  the 
Scriptures  is  merely  incestuous  fornication  or  adul- 
tery, and  that  no  marriage  can  be  incestuous; 
others,  that  consanguinity  is  the  sole  scriptural 
ground  of  incest,  and  that  it  cannot  exist  in  any 
case  of  mere  affinity ;  others,  that  the  Levitical 
prohibitions  were  intended  merely  to  preserve  the 
natural  supremacy  of  the  husband ;  others,  that 
the  Levitical  law  prohibits  marriage  with  certain 


216  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

women  while  they  are  the  wives  of  other  men,  but 
not  after  they  become  widows  ;  others,  that  the  law 
of  incest  was  either  merely  ceremonial,  or  merely 
the  national  law  of  Israel,  and  in  neither  case  bind- 
ing on  us ;  others,  that  incest  is  merely  a  positive 
offence,  and  therefore  not  a  crime  in  its  own  nature  ; 
others,  that  we  are  subject  to  no  law  of  incest 
whatever,  but  that  all  marriages  are  lawful ;  others, 
that  marriage  with  a  wife's  sister  is  authorized  in 
the  Scriptures,  and  is  in  itself  particularly  proper; 
and  others,  that  it  is  in  vain  to  amend  the  laws  of 
any  one  state,  and  leave  those  of  the  other  states  as 
they  are. 

"  The  subject  is,  however,  of  so  much  intrinsic 
importance  as  to  justify  any  length  of  discussion 
which  it  fairly  involves.  If  incest  be  now  a  sin,  it 
is  unquestionably  a  sin  of  no  light  magnitude.  It 
was  one  of  nine  crimes  for  which  the  Canaanites 
were  exterminated,  and  for  which  the  Israelites 
were  threatened  with  extermination.  Under  the 
Levitical  law,  those  guilty  of  it  were  punished  with 
death.  Few  sins  are  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures 
as  equally  offensive  to  the  eye  of  God.  If,  then,  it 
be  now  a  sin,  and  if  many  of  the  marriages  now 
customary  in  this  country  are  incestuous,  it  is  most 
desirable  that  its  guilt  and  danger  should  be  fully 
exposed,  and  the  degrees  within  which  marriage  is 
prohibited  exactly  ascertained. 

"  The  first  inroads  on  our  laws  of  incest  were 
made  at  the  instigation,  and  by  the  secret  manage- 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  217 

ment,  of  some  of  our  '  prime  nobles,'  who  had  either 
seduced,  or  married,  or  pledged  themselves  to  marry 
a  wife's  sister,  and  who  wished  by  this  finesse  to 
escape*  at  once  public  odium  and  personal  responsi- 
bility—  just  as  the  archchancellor  of  Napoleon,  fol- 
lowing in  their  steps,  when  appointed  by  his  master 
to  draw  up  the  '  Code  Penal,''  struck  out  the  sin  of 
Sodom  from  the  list  of  crimes  —  being  himself  a 
notorious  and  infamous  Sodomite.  After  this  first 
inroad,  some  other  of  these  disinterested  men,  wish- 
ing to  marry  his  wife's  niece,  or  brother's  wife, 
moved  the  wires  afresh,  and  the  puppets  legalized 
the  already  formed  or  proposed  connection.  At 
length  a  few  of  the  reverend  clergy,  being  '  men  of 
like  passions  with  other  men,'  took  the  double  hint 
of  inclination  and  example ;  and  with  a  spirit 
equally  disinterested,  justified  their  '  civil  fathers,' 
first  by  kindly  writing  in  defence  of  the  marriage 
which  they  had  doubly  sanctioned,  and  immedi- 
ately afterwards  by  contracting  it  themselves. 
Many  others  in  humbler  life,  and  yet  but  few 
on  the  whole,  have  formed  similar  connections. 
But  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  any  or 
all  of  the  states,  do  not  wish  to  contract  the 
marriages  in  question,  and  feel  no  interest  in  con- 
tinuing their  legislative  sanction.  The  common 
voice  is  not  in  their  favor.  Nothing  has  prevented 
the  prosecution  of  cases  still  prohibited  but  the 
consideration  that  they  had  occurred  through  the 
miserable  interference  of  the  legislature,  and  the 
19 


218 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


rickety  state  of  the  marriage  acts.  Were  our  laws 
restored  to  their  fair  form  and  comely  proportion, 
the  practice  would  be  right,  of  course.  No  offence 
is  so  easily  detected  as  an  incestuous  marriage,  none 
confined  within  limits  so  absolutely  definite.  And 
it  is  a  gross  slander  upon  the  substantial  yeomanry 
of  our  country  to  represent  them  as  so  little  con- 
scious of  moral  obligation,  that,  when  under  the 
solemnity  of  an  oath,  they  will  not,  upon  satisfac- 
tory evidence,  convict  transgression. 

"  No  one  of  the  marriages  heretofore  regarded  as 
incestuous  has  found  so  numerous  or  so  warm  ad- 
vocates as  that  with  a  wife's  sister.  Those  of  the 
clergy,  particularly,  who  have  either  contracted,  or 
purposed  to  contract,  this  marriage,  feeling  uneasy 
until  they  could  satisfy  others  of  its  lawfulness  as 
fully  as  they  hoped  they  had  satisfied  themselves, 
have  usually  come  out  in  self-defence  before  they 
were  attacked. 

"  We  appeal  then  to  those  who  make  our  laws, 
to  those  who  constitute  our  ecclesiastical  courts,  to 
those  who  minister  at  the  altar,  and  to  the  churches 
of  Christ.  We  call  on  them  to  purify  the  church 
and  the  country  from  this  sin.  It  is  the  work  to 
which  God  calls  them,  and  to  which  in  his  provi- 
dence they  are  appointed.  If  they  will  not  do  it, 
God  will  charge  on  them  —  on  each  according  to 
his  measure  —  the  guilt  and  the  consequent  pollu- 
tions of  the  sin  of  incest." 

Under  such    impulses,   when    actuating   young 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  219 

clergymen,  "the  science  of  theology"  has  been  tor- 
tured, and  pamphlet  after  pamphlet  has  been  pub- 
lished, if  not  to  disclose  a  "  royal  road  to  geometry," 
at  least  to  vindicate  those  who  "lead  about  a 
sister  "-in-law  as  "a  wife."  And  this  leprosy  has 
spread  from  the  Congregational  churches  of  New 
England  to  those  portions  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  who  from  them  have  learned  that,  in  wor- 
ship, the  imitations  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Watts,  and  the 
unhallowed  productions  of  other  uninspired  hymn 
makers,  are  "  sufficiently  divine,"  with  which  to 
supplant  the  psalms  of  Jehovah  as  the  matter  of 
praise.  In  reference  to  some  of  these  I  extract 
from  the  writings  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  J.  Janeway, 
under  date  of  November,  1843.  "  The  design," 
says  he,  "  of  the  Puritan's  pamphlet  is  to  vindicate 
the  lawfulness  of  a  marriage  between  a  man  and 
his  deceased  wife's  sister.  It  was  prepared  and 
published  in  opposition  to  an  act  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  by  which,  in 
accordance  with  their  confession  of  faith,  and,  as 
they  believed,  in  accordance  with  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, they  affirmed  the  decision  of  one  of  their 
presbyteries,  who  had  deposed  a  member  for  the  sin 
of  contracting  such  a  marriage. 

"  It  was  distributed  widely  among  the  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  churchj  and  as  the  question  of 
the  lawfulness  of  such  a  marriage  had,  by  appeal, 
come  up  before  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  church,  and  had,  by  that  synod,  been  sent 


220  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

down  to  all  their  classes,  to  report  their  judgment 
on  the  question  to  the  next  synod,  the  pamphlet 
was  widely  and  gratuitously  distributed  among  the 
members  of  the  classes,  with  a  view  to  influence 
their  decision,  and  to  effect  a  change  in  the  action 
of  that  Christian  church  in  regard  to  such  mar- 
riages. 

"  It  had  doubtless  very  considerable  influence  on 
the  members  of  that  church,  and  particularly  on 
her  younger  ministers.  The  General  Synod  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  church,  at  their  last  session,  having 
received  the  reports  of  their  classes,  departed  from 
what  had  heretofore  been  the  uniform  practice  of 
their  church,  and  the  church  of  Holland,  from  which 
they  were  descended,  by  resolving,  '  that  all  resolu- 
tions which  may  have  been  passed  by  the  General 
Synod,  forbidding  a  man  to  marry  his  deceased 
wife's  sister,  be  and  hereby  are  rescinded.' "  * 

This  subject  is  now  agitated  widely  in  the  Old 
School  General  Assembly,!  while  the  New  School 
Presbyterians,  making  transcendental  progress  to- 
wards the  largest  liberty,  have,  in  1853,  legalized 
the  marriage  of  an  uncle  and  his  niece;  and  just  as 


*  "  See  their  minutes  for  1843,  p.  221." 

f  The  Associate  Reformed  Synod,  in  1787,  on  a  reference  from  the 
first  presbytery,  sanctioned  the  excommunication  of  Wm.  McC.  and  his 
wife's  sister  for  this  crime.  Among  them  this  law  is  still  in  force.  How 
long  in  then  hands  the  authority  of  Christ  shall  keep  the  marriage  bed 
from  defilement  from  this  quarter  throughout  their  borders,  in  this  age 
of  change,  (often  miscalled  improvement,)  progress,  and  expediency, 
time  alone  can  tell.     "  Hating  even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh." 


MARRIAGE    AND    INCEST.  221 

•men  depart  from  a  full  belief  in  the  divine  authority 
of  the  Scriptures,  or  "  believe  too  little,"  so  will 
this  pollution  spread,  until  it  cease  to  be  regarded 
with  horror.  Then  men  will  "  call  evil  good,  and 
good  evil." 

By  politicians,  who  are  usually  of  one  of  the  two 
extremes,  of  those  who  "  believe  too  little,"  or  of 
those  who  follow  Pope  Clement  VII.,  this  innova- 
tion upon  the  authority  of  the  divine  law,  and  upon 
the  purity  of  domestic  morals,  has  been  favorably 
received,  and  "  all  the  states  in  this  country  but  one 
allow  of  the  marriage  of  a  wife's  sister  "  *  by  statute 
law.  As  "  faults  in  the  life  breed  errors  in  the 
brain,"  this  array  of  statute  law  gives  painful  evi- 
dence that  in  the  deliberations  and  labors  of  our 
state  legislatures,  "  the  pleasures  of  sin,"  and  not 
the  glory  of  God,  possess,  at  times,  the  ascendency 
in  our  land.  Such,  however,  is  tjie  manner  in  which 
the  powerful  hand  of  church  government  moulds 
some  of  the  matters  pertaining  to  marriage  and 
incest. 

*  Janeway. 

19* 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THEIR  INFLUENCES   ON  DOMESTIC  TRAINING. 

When  we  look  at  the  training  of  families  to  the 
duties  and  trials  of  life,  our  radical  difference  leaves 
here,  also,  I  believe,  its  impression.  I  do  not  assert 
that  the  rich  in  one  division  will  not,  from  the  in- 
fluence of  wealth,  diner  from  those  in  poverty  under 
both  the  others ;  but  place  them  all  on  equality  in 
relation  to  wealth  and  external  social  position,  and 
the  specific  or  radical  training  will  usually  appear. 

In  Presbyterian  families,  a  precision  in  relation 
to  what  are  sometimes,  by  the  others,  called  small 
matters,  will  not  unfrequently  be  observed.  Morn- 
ing and  evening,  as  we  have  seen, 

"The  saint,  the  husband,  and  the  father  prays," 

while  the  family,  as  a  whole,  sing  and  make  a  joy- 
ful noise  to  God  with  "the  voice  of  a  psalm." 
Trained  daily  in  "the  church  in  the  house"  to  re- 
spect their  parents,  they  on  Sabbaths  become  fa- 
miliar with  the  place  of  prayer,  in  which  "  the 
faces  of   the   elders  are  honored." 

Upon  such  youthful  minds  the  stern  and  solemn 
countenances  of  the  teaching  and  ruling  overseers 

(222) 


INFLUENCES    ON    DOMESTIC    TRAINING.  223 

produce  weekly  a  feeling  of  veneration,  which  the 
visit  of  the  pastor  to  the  parental  roof  increases. 
A  decent  respect  for  superiors,  thus  inculcated  by- 
parental  precept  and  example,  will,  in  due  time, 
make  "  the  Presbyterian  sour,"  while  the  conscien- 
tious sanctification  of  "  the  Lord's  day  "  in  secret, 
private,  and  in  public,  will  usually  "  grow  with  their 
growth,  and  strengthen  with  their  strength."  Not 
only  are  they  thus  trained  to  sing, 

"  How  lovely  is  thy  dwelling-place, 
0  Lord  of  hosts,  to  me!"  — 

but  upon  their  return  home,  the  same  Sabbath  still- 
ness pervades  the  parental  dwelling,  and  the  study 
of  "the  doctrine  of  God  our  Savior"  becomes  a 
portion  of  the  evening  exercises. 

That  compendium  of  divine  truth,  the  Shorter 
Catechism,  is  then  employed,  and  if  Sabbath 
schools  are  attended,  they  are  viewed  only  as  an 
auxiliary  to,  and  not  as  a  substitute  for,  parental 
training.  Through  the  varied  appliances  of  thus 
reading,  singing,  and  hearing  "the  word  of  life" 
daily,  the  scrutinizing  supervision  of  the  ruling 
elders  and  the  associations  of  the  solemn  assembly, 
the  catechizing  and  the  sabbatical  rest,  a  cast  of 
character  is  formed  which  becomes  marked  and  un- 
mistakable. He  who  has  enjoyed  and  profited  by 
such  a  training  becomes  a  Puritan,  a  Presbyterian. 

Again  :  where  social  position  and  personal  wealth 
are  as  equally  enjoyed  by  Episcopalians,  the  results 


224 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


of  domestic  training  differ.  Here  the  use  of  forms 
in  prayer,  the  absence  of  the  song  of  Jehovah  in 
morning  and  evenirig  worship,  the  weekly  repetition 
of  a  stereotyped  "  public  service,"  the  playing  of  a 
"  thing  without  life,  giving  sound,"  together  with 
the  varied  "  rites  and  ceremonies "  which  "  the 
church "  has  decreed,  her  oratorios,  cantatas,  te 
Devms,  &c,  &c,  all  conspire  to  produce  a  faith 
broader  than  the  Scriptures,  and  a  surplus  of  ven- 
eration for  sacred  persons,  places,  things,  and  holy- 
days. 

When  into  the  account  are  also  taken  the  ease 
with  which,  after  the  attendance  on  "  service," 
social  levity  can  often  be  introduced  on  the  return 
home,  the  consoling  thought  that  the  individual 
belongs  to  the  true  apostolic  church,  that  he  has 
"  a  Levite  "  as  his  "  priest,"  together  with  the  influ- 
ences of  appointed  feasts  and  holydays  to  diminish 
the  preeminent  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  it  becomes 
no  matter  of  astonishment  that  thus,  under  a  less 
severe  religious  training,  a  difference  of  character 
should  be  developed.  Hence  we  find  ease,  dignity 
of  manners,  and  a  more  ready  obsequiousness  to 
superiors,  together,  usually,  with  a  less  severe  con- 
scientiousness, predominant  among  Protestant  Epis- 
copalians when  compared  with  Presbyterians. 

That  Popery  has  a  peculiar  influence  on  domes- 
tic training,  especially  during  infancy  and  youth, 
the  stinted  operations  of  mind,  in  millions  of  human 
families   under   her  power,   unquestionably  prove. 


INFLUENCES    ON    DOMESTIC    TRAINING.  225 

The  voice  of  psalms  and  the  rejoicings  of  salvation 
are  hushed  in  her  domestic  habitations,  while  a  zeal- 
ous, early,  a'nd  earnest  devotion  usually  character- 
izes their  prescribed  matins  and  vespers.  The 
"  marks,"  both  of  a  trembling  obsequiousness  to 
their  priesthood  and  a  conscious  inferiority,  draw 
a  plain  line  of  distinction  between  them  at  every 
stage  of  training  and  existence,  and  those  above 
described,  who  honor  the  faces  of  their  elders,  and 
who  hold  their  pastors  "  highly  in  love  for  their 
work  sake." 

While,  in  the  whole  domestic  training  of  youth, 
the  earlier  Congregationalists  differed  but  little  from 
Presbyterians,  and  what  I  have  stated  in  relation 
•to  it  among  the  one  might  have  been  affirmed 
in  New  England  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  of 
the  other,  yet  new  "  customs  "  have  been  formed  in 
this  department  of  duty  and  of  privilege,  which 
materially  alter  character  in  some  of  its  delinea- 
tions. The  growing  want  of  "  the  voice  of  rejoicing 
and  salvation  in  the  tabernacles  of  the  righteous," 
in  "  sweet  psalms  "  morning  and  evening ;  the  not 
unfrequent  idea  that  the  youth  (is  the  architect  of 
his  own  fortune,  and)  may  attend  the  usual  parental 
place,  or  any  place  of  prayer,  at  his  own  option  ; 
the  want  of  ruling  elders  in  the  house  of  God ;  the 
equivocal  idea  at  times  connected  in  its  modern 
sense  with  the  word  "  deacon  ;"  exclusion  of  young 
persons  from  taking  a  part  in  the  praises  of  their 
Redeemer  in  the  sanctuary,  unless  they  belong  to 


226  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

"  that  sensitive  and  troublesome  class  of  function- 
aries—  the  choir;"  the  absence  of  many  of  the 
hallowed  associations  of  the  Lord's  table,  and  the 
soul-stirring  exercises  of  a  communion  season 
around  it,  where  pew  distribution  prevails  ;  the  prac- 
tice of  dispensing  it  by  "boards"  and  "conven- 
tions "  during  secular  time,  instead  of  doing  so  by 
the  rulers  of  the  church  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  and  especially  the  general  absence  of  family 
catechizing  on  Sabbath  evening,  —  these,  together 
with  other  influences  which  might  be  mentioned, 
such  as  the  partly  religious  newspaper,  the  senti- 
mental magazine,  the  "  divers  doctrines  "  heard  in 
Sabbath  schools,  and  the  fictitious  Sabbath  school 
book,  all  have  a  powerful  influence  to  form  a  variety 
of  character,  and  give  diversity  to  human  conduct. 

Lest  my  statements  in  relation  to  some  of  these 
items  of  religious  training  may  be  questioned,  I  re- 
fer my  readers  to  the  following  extract  from  an 
"  Orthodox  "  paper,  the  "  Well- Spring,"  of  August 
6,1852:  — 

"  Brought  up  in  New  England.  —  A  Scotch 
minister,  who  has  many  years  been  a  pastor  and 
laborer  in  the  cause  of  Christ  in  New  England, 
said  he  once  spent  a  Sabbath  in  a  Scotch  family. 
After  the  afternoon  meeting,  the  family  were  assem- 
bled, according  to  the  almost  universal  practice  in 
Scotland,  to  recite  the  Catechism. 

"  The  children  and  all  the  other  members  of  the 
family  were  seated,  and  the  father  began  to  ask  the 


INFLUENCES    ON    DOMESTIC    TRAINING.  227 

questions  to  each  individual  in  turn.  When  he 
came  round  to  the  minister,  he  put  a  question,  in 
turn,  to  him. 

'"I  can  answer  the  question  in  substance?  said 
he,  'but  I  cannot  answer  it  as  it  is  in  the  Catechism. 
Shall  I  give  the  answer  in  substance  ?  '  The  father 
shook  his  head,  and  immediately  put  the  question 
to  the  next.  He  did  not  wish  his  children  to  feel 
the  example  of  answering  the  questions  otherwise 
than  correctly. 

"  The  Scotch  minister,  after  having  related  this 
fact,  was  asked  how  it  was  that  he,  a  Scotchman, 
could  not  recite  the  Catechism,  as  all  that  people 
think  so  much  of  having  the  children  taught  this 
form  of  sound  words  ? 

" '  O,'  said  he,  with  a  comical  shrug  of  the 
shoulder,  l  I  was  brought  up  in  New  England  ! '  " 

"  The  Primer  "  is  still  occasionally  published  in 
New  England,  but  some  of  its  doctrines  do  not 
highly  honor  our  depraved  reason ;  hence  the  "  cus- 
toms of  the  churches  "  (the  only  effective  power  in 
the  case)  do  not  enforce  an  acquaintance  with  it 
upon  families.  Thus,  where  wealth  and  external 
social  position  are  equal,  our  radical  division  has  an 
influence  on  the  formation  of  character  which 
might  be  presented  from  different  other  stand 
points  in  the  field  of  life,  and  especially  in  the  area 
of  the  domestic,  circle.*  "  Train-  up  a  child  in  " 
either  "  way,  and  he  will  not "  easily,  nor  usually, 
"  depart  from  it."     *  See  Appendix  E. 


228  PHILOSOPHY    OP    SECTARIANISM. 

As  the  sculptor,  by  tap  after  tap  upon  the  chisel, 
forms  from  the  marble  u  the  fisher  boy,"  or  other 
lifelike  forms,  so,  by  "line  upon  line,"  impression 
upon  impression,  the  plastic  hand  of  parental  or 
other  training,  as  guided  by  either  form  of  church 
government,  will  produce  a  different  people,  as  may 
be  seen  by  placing  in  juxtaposition  the  Papists  of 
any  land,  the  members  of  the  Anglican  church 
from  merry  England,  the  Presbyterian  of  Scotland, 
or  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  or  of  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  comparing  either,  or  both,  with  the  ris- 
ing generation  in  New  England.* 

To  show  how  these  apparently  trivial  influences 
early  impress  the  mind,  I  will  produce  the  testimony 
of    two  men,  and  their   feelings   in   youth   under 


*  This  fact  has,  by  some  ethnologists,  been  accounted  for  by  a  refer- 
ence to  races.  Hence,  says  Dr.  Solger,  in  New  York,  February,  1854, 
"  With  the  Germanic,  (to  which  belong  Germany,  England,  Norway, 
Sweden,  and  Denmark,)  by  their  inherent  superiority  of  race,  the  great 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  are  identified,  and  these  princi- 
ples are  impossible  with  the  others,  (first  the  Romanic,  embracing  the 
people  of  Italy,  France,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  and  secondly,  the  Sclavic, 
embracing  Russia,  Turkey,  a  part  of  Austria,  and  a  small  part  of 
Prussia,)  by  their  very  make  and  essence."  Of  his  distribution  of  the 
European  races,  "inherent  superiority,  very  make  and  essence,"  may, 
on  a  close  survey,  perhaps,  be  discovered  to  be  partly  the  effect,  as  well 
as  the  cause ;  sometimes  the  secondary,  and  not  always  the  primary, 
consequences  arising  from  an  early  and  more  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  sacred  page,  and  a  more  precise  belief  of  its  absolutely  equal 
inspiration  and  authority.  This  will  possibly,  to  some  extent,  account 
for  their  diversity,  as  well  as  birth,  food,  and  climate.  The  food  and 
climate  of  the  soul  have,  at  least,  as  much  to  do  with  the  superiority 
of  races  as  that  which  belongs  to  the  mere  material  frame.  —  See  His" 
tory  of  the  Huguenots,  by  Dr.  Weiss. 


INFLUENCES    ON    DOMESTIC    TRAINING.  229 

parental  domestic  example.  Robert  Burns  cannot 
be  justly  impeached  with  fanaticism ;  yet  he  states 
that  when  his  father,  at  morning  and  evening  wor- 
ship, used  to  say,  "  Let  us  worship  God,"  he  always 
thought  that  there  "  was  something  peculiarly  ven- 
erable in  the  expression."  Not  only  did  his  own 
feelings  in  youth  become  deeply  impressed  with  the 
moral  grandeur  of  soul  with  which  these  words 
were  uttered,  but  to  the  "  godly  sincerity,"  apparent 
in  this  invocation,  all  his  parent's  daily  deportment 
appeared,  in  his  estimation,  to  correspond.*  So  that, 
if  any  thing  short  of  the  grace  of  God  could  have 
converted  the  poet,  the  religious  training  which  he 
received,  and  especially  the  force  of  such  parental 
example,  would  have  done  much  to  make  him 
"  wise  unto  salvation." 

"  Dr.  Channing  was  brought  up,"  says  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  Boston  Chronicle,  of  August,  1852, 
"  at  the  feet  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  the  founder  of  the 
Hopkinsian  sect,  and  dated  his  scepticism  on 
Calvinism  from  a  certain  Sabbath  night,  when  he 
heard  a  sermon  on  the  eternity  of  future  punish- 

*  This  is  unquestionable  from  his  epitaph. 

"  O  ye,  whose  cheek  the  tear  of  pity  stains, 

Draw  near  with  pious  reverence  and  attend ! 
Here  lie  the  loving  husband's  dear  remains, 

The  tender  father,  and  the  generous  friend ; 
The  pitying  heart  that  felt  for  human  woe  ; 

The  dauntless  heart  that  feared  no  human  pride ; 
The  friend  of  man,  to  vice  alone  a  foe ; 

For  '  e'en  his  failings  leaned  to  virtue's  side.'  " 

20 


230  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

ment.  Dr.  Charming  was  then  a  lad ;  the  sermon 
produced  an  impression  upon  his  mind.  His  father 
was  a  member  of  Dr.  Hopkins's  church.  His  father 
came  home  that  night,  pulled  off  his  boots,  took  up 
a  paper,  and  read  away  as  if  nothing  were  to  happen. 
Dr.  Channing  thought  his  father  could  not  believe 
what  he  had  heard,  and  from  that  time  prepared 
his  mind  to  abandon  the  faith  of  his  fathers." 

The  mere  influence  and  tendency  of  paternal 
example,  where  both  parents  were  professing 
Christians,  is  here  clearly  exemplified,  under  these 
different  forms  of  government,  to  be  a  most  power- 
ful element  in  training ;  and  while  neither  parent 
could  give  grace  to  his  child,  yet  the  radical  diver- 
sity under  consideration  moulded  in  their  youth  the 
views  of  these  two  powerful  minds  in  their  respec- 
tive estimates  of  true  godliness. 

If  those  who  controvert  my  position  deny  that 
the  discipline  of  "  the  whole  church,"  to  which  the 
father  of  Dr.  Channing  then  belonged,  retained  a 
membership  inferior  in  point  of  piety  and  true 
godliness  to  those  under  the  inspection  of  the  kirk 
session  to  which  the  father  of  Robert  Burns  was 
obedient,  or  that  the  religious  instructions  received 
by  his  father  in  a  rural  parish  were  superior  to 
those  enjoyed  by  the  members  of  the  church  of 
which  (in  a  New  England  town)  the  popular  and 
renowned  Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins,  who  was  himself  "  the 
founder  of  the  Hopkinsian  sect,"  was  pastor,  they 
are  welcome  to  the  advantage  resulting  from  their 
choice  in  the  case,  either  jn  whole  or  in  part. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THEIR  INFLUENCES  OX   SABBATH   SCHOOLS. 

The  unity  of  children  with  their  parents  in  char- 
acter and  privilege  has  ever  been  a  dictate  both  of 
reason  and  of  revelation.  As  sinners,  the  children 
on  the  earth  at  the  commencement  of  the  deluge 
perished  with  their  parents,  while,  in  like  manner, 
"  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  and  the  cities  about  them, 
giving  themselves  over  to  fornication,  and  going 
after  strange  flesh,  are  set  forth  for  an  example," 
parents  and  children  "  suffering  the  vengeance  of 
eternal  fire,"  unless  we  believe  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
"Watts,  "that  the  children  of  ungodly  parents  who 
die  in  infancy  are  annihilated."* 

In  like  manner,  when  Jehovah  called  Abraham, 
produced  in  him  that  "  faith  which  is  of  the  opera- 
tion of  God,"  gave  to  him  the  righteousness  which 
that  faith  receives  and  appropriates,  and  when  with 
it  "  he  received  the  sign  of  circumcision,  a  seal  of 
the  righteousness  of  the  faith  which  he  had,  yet 
being  uncircumcised,  that  he  might  be  the  father  of 
all  that  believe,  though  they  be  not   circumcised, 

*  Buck's  Diet.  art.  Dcstrvctionists. 

(231) 


232  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

that  righteousness  might  be  imputed  toihem  also," 
he  was  solemnly  informed,  "  This  is  my  covenant 
which  ye  shall  keep  between  me  and  you,  and  thy 
seed  after  thee.  Every  man  child  among  you  shall 
be  circumcised."  This  was  "  the  law  of  the  house" 
of  God  until  "the  fulness  of  time."  The  children 
with  their  "  fathers  were  under  the  cloud,  and  all 
passed  through  the  sea,  and  were  all  baptized  unto 
Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea ;  and  did  all  eat 
the  same  spiritual  meat,  and  did  all  drink  the  same 
spiritual  drink."  Not  only  was  Jesus  brought  to 
Jerusalem  and  presented  to  the  Lord  on  the  pro- 
fession of  the  faith  of  his  mother  and  of  Joseph, 
who  did  for  him  after  the  custom  of  the  law,  but 
at  twelve  years  of  age,  and  after  he  had  entered  on 
his  Father's  business,  from  his  identity  of  character 
and  privilege,  he  went  to  Nazareth,  and  was  subject 
unto  them  during  his  minority  in  our  nature. 

In  vindication  of  those  children  who,  with  the 
multitudes,  and  doubtless  among  them  their  parents 
also,  cried  to  him  in  the  house  of  prayer,  "  Hosanna 
to  the  Son  of  David,"  he  has  further  taught  that 
the  children  of  believing  parents  in  all  ages  ought, 
as  worshippers,  with  those  by  whom  they  are  so 
endearingly  represented,  to  praise  God  "  with  the 
voice  of  a  psalm."  "  Yea,  have  ye  never  read,  Out 
of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  thou  hast 
perfected  praise  ?  "  (Matt.  xxi.  16.)  Such  being  their 
relation  to  their  parents  under  the  law,  (and  from  the 
beginning,)  it  was  diminished  neither  in  character 


INFLUENCES    ON    SABBATH    SCHOOLS.  233 

nor  privilege  when  He  to  whom  it  was  promised  in 
the  covenant  of  grace,  "  So  shall  he  sprinkle  many 
nations,"  directed  his  ministering  servants  to  "  go 
and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them," 
admitting  them  into  Christian  fellowship,  and  after- 
wards "  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  have  commanded  you." 

Early  did  the  apostles  avow  this  relation,  as  it 
affected  both  character  and  privilege.  When,  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  those  who,  among  others, 
had  cried  out,  "  His  blood  be  on  us  and  on  our 
children,"  under  the  awful  terrors  of  spiritual  con- 
viction, aggravated  by  this  fearful  imprecation  upon 
their  offspring,  inquired,  "  Men 'and  brethren,  what 
shall  we  do  ? "  the  encouraging  assurance  of  all 
the  apostles,  unanimously  given  by  the  mouth  of 
Peter,  was,  "  The  promise  is  unto  you  and  to  your 
children."  In  this  they  say,  "  As  your  enmity  and 
malice  imprecated  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  vengeance  due  to  those  who  shed  it,  upon 
your  unconscious  children,  and  as  they  would  have, 
undoubtedly,  continued  under  this  imprecation,  un- 
less he,  as  "  a  Prince  and  a  Savior,"  by  whom  you 
now  "  with  the  heart  believe  unto  righteousness," 
had  granted  unto  you  "  repentance  and  forgiveness 
of  sins,"  so,  in  the  tender  mercy  of  our  God,  their 
character  and  privileges  now  change  with  yours,  for 
the  promise  is  not  only  unto  you,  but  also  unto 
your  children;  not  to  the  children  of  your  fellow- 
countrymen  who  continue  in  unbelief,  but  unto 
20* 


234  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

yours,  as  they  are  the  children  of  believing  parents. 
From  them  the  guilt  of  this  fearful  crime  is  now 
removed,  providing  they  do  not  afterwards  assume 
it  by  wilful  rejection  of  Jesus  as  their  Savior." 

Not  only  do  we  find  "  salvation  "  coming  to  the 
house,  the  household,  or  family  of  Zaccheus,  when 
he,  by  grace,  became  in  reality  what  he  had  previ- 
ously been  by  nature,  "  a  son  of  Abraham,"  and  all 
his  children  henceforth  favored  with  true  spiritual 
instruction,  but  walking  by  the  same  rule  with  him 
who  was  their  Lord,  the  apostles  in  like  manner 
recognized  the  character  and  privileges  of  the  chil- 
dren of  believing  parents.  On  the  profession  of 
parental  faith,  the  households  of  Stephanas  and 
Lydia  were  baptized.  On  a  similar  profession  of 
faith  made  by  the  jailer  at  Philippi,  alone,  "  he  was 
baptized,  and  all  his  straightway."  In  the  change 
from  the  former  to  that  of  the  New  Testament  dis- 
pensation, "  the  blessing  of  Abraham  "  came  on  all 
who  were  "  added  to  the  church  ;  "  and  as,  under 
the  latter,  all  professing  Christians  are  to  forsake, 
not  the  synagoguing  of  themselves  together,  the 
same  exercises  of  worship  were  attended  to  by  the 
apostles,  who  for  several  years  preached  Christ  in 
the  synagogues  into  which  children  were  invariably 
brought  with  their  parents. 

When  the  American  colonists  became  an  inde- 
pendent nation,  their  children  were  with  them  in- 
cluded in  character  and  privilege,  were  trained  up 
for  the  performance  of  the  duties,  and  in  due  time 


INFLUENCES    ON    SABBATH    SCHOOLS. 


235 


invested  with  the  privileges,  of  citizenship.  Similar, 
if  not  identical,  is  the  case  here.  As,  during  the 
period  which  elapsed  previously  to  the  conversion 
of  Cornelius,  (Acts  x.,)  the  children  of  the  many- 
thousands  of  the  Jews  who  believed  on  Jesus  Christ 
were  not  left  among  their  unbelieving  countrymen, 
nor  excluded  from  the  house  of  God  by  their  Chris- 
tian parents,  by  the  ruling  elders  of  the  churches, 
nor  by  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  thus  left  under 
Jewish  bondage,  or  turned  over  to  the  uncovenanted 
mercies  of  the  heathen,  so  they,  doubtless,  were 
by  baptism  acknowledged  members  of  the  visible 
church,  became  thus  the  object  of  parental  vows, 
prayers,  and  solicitude,  grew  up  in  the  courts  of  the 
Lord,  and  were  taught  and  "  knew  the  Scriptures 
from  their  childhood."     (2  Tim.  i.  5.) 

To  the  parents  the  command  was,  "  And,  ye  fa- 
thers, provoke  not  your  children  to  wrath,  but  bring 
them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord."  So  clearly  were  all  the  interests  of  the 
children  of  true  believers  guarded,  that  the  line  of 
demarcation  is  drawn  so  wide  as  to  embrace  all  the 
"  godly  seed  "  of  Christians  in  every  condition,  even 
where  one  of  the  parents  continues  to  be  a  heathen, 
Jew,  or  infidel.  (1  Cor.  vii.  14.)  Thus,  where  both 
parents  are  unbelievers,  the  children  are  "  unclean  ; " 
where  one  or  both  parents  (and  one  as  well  as  both) 
believe  on  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  their  off- 
spring are  relatively  or  federally  "  holy  ;"  they  are 
united  with  their  parents  in  character  and  privileges. 


236  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

This  is  the  dictate  of  revelation,  "  If  the  root  be  holy, 
so  are  the  branches."  Not  absolutely,  but  federally, 
by  the  positive  arrangement  of  God.  This  is  also  the 
inculcation  of  reason.  Hence,  in  the  admission  of 
aliens  to  national  character  and  privileges,  (to  which 
allusion  has  been  made,)  the  young  children  of 
those  who  become  citizens  are  not  only  included 
and  protected,  but  they  are  viewed  federally  as  citi- 
zens, and  admitted  to  all  civil  immunities,  so  far 
and  so  fast  as  their  capacity  and  condition  warrant 
their  enjoying  them;  and  they  continue  such  until 
by  choice  they  renounce  their  national  character, 
and  disclaim  their  civil  advantages.  In  like  man- 
ner,  those  whom  God  has  declared  to  be  "  holy  "  by 
their  federal  connection  with  believing  parents,  may 
by  unbelief  avowedly  reject  their  birthright,  or  by 
indifference  and  neglect  fail  to  join  themselves  "to 
the  Lord  in  a  covenant  not  to  be  forgotten,"  and 
thus  change  their  character  and  relation.  Hence 
the  church  has  almost  constantly  suffered  by  "  an 
increase  of  sinful  men,"  when  the  children  of  pro- 
fessing parents  have  kept  not  the  covenant  of  God, 
and  refused  to  walk  in  his  law. 

Consequently  all  Presbyterians  maintain  that 
"  not  only  those  that  do  actually  profess  faith  in  and 
obedience  unto  Christ,  but  also  the  infants  of  one 
or  both  believing  parents,  are  to  be  baptized."  This 
we  have  previously  seen,  and  out  of  this  unity  of 
character  and  privilege  arises  among  them  the 
solemn  obligation  which  professing  Christian  par- 


INFLUENCES    ON    SABBATH    SCHOOLS.  237 

ents  assume  to  educate  their  children  religiously. 
(Ps.  lxxviii.  5-6-7.)  Hence  they  are  required  to  "  train 
up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go ; "  and  in  order 
that  this  may  be  certainly  done,  parents  themselves 
promise  to  be,  according  to  their  ability,  the  teach- 
ers of  their  own  children.  Under  this  polity,  then, 
"  the  elders  of  the  church  "  have  a  control  of  the 
parents,  and  through  them  of  their  children.  As 
instructors  over  their  own  children,  parents  have 
direct  control.  With  the  child  the  pastor  comes 
into  direct  and  intimate,  and  the  elders  into  official 
and  salutary  contact.  These  varied  appliances, 
then,  all  bear  upon  the  highest  interests  of  the  child, 
while  under  these  spiritual  "  tutors  and  governors  " 
he  is  taught  and  compelled  to  "render  honor  to 
whom  honor  is  due,"  and  by  "  walking  with  wise 
men,"  under  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  he  "becomes 
wise." 

Among  Protestant  Episcopalians,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  child  is  baptized  because  it  is  a  child ;  and 
for  it,  sponsors,  official  relatives  unknown  to  the 
Bible,  are  provided.  To  the  joint  parties  of  parents 
and  sponsors  the  responsibility  of  the  religious 
education  of  the  child  is  intrusted,  sometimes  with 
good,  although  frequently  with  varied  success.  Here 
we  find  too  much  belief,  a  faith  broader  than  that 
which  rests  on  the  Bible,  under  the  operation  of 
which  the  sacred  name  of  our  Creator  is  criminally, 
and  too  often  profanely,  coupled  with  those  of 
earthly  parents,  and  under  an  unscriptural  arrange- 


238  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

ment  of  what  are  called  godfathers  and  godmothers, 
duties  are  assumed  which  none  but  believing  par- 
ents can  scripturally  perform. 

When  Prelatic  confirmation,  a  "rite"  of  "the 
church  "  unknown  to  the  word  of  God,  takes  the 
place  of  a  public  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  before 
"  the  elders  of  the  church,"  the  candidate  is  taught, 
in  answer  to  the  question,  "  Who  gave  you  this 
name  ?  "  to  say,  "  My  godfathers  and  godmothers 
in  my  baptism,  wherein  I  was  made  a  member  of 
Christ,  the  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  And  to  another  question, 
"  They  did  promise  and  vow  three  things  in  my 
name  ;  first,  that  I  should  renounce  the  devil  and  all 
his  works  ;  secondly,  that  I  should  believe  all  the 
articles  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  and  thirdly,  that  I 
should  keep  God's  commandments." 

Popery  not  only  claims  the  child,  where  either 
parent  is  a  Papist,  but  also  makes  confirmation  a 
distinct  sacrament,  and  so  early  and  thoroughly  im- 
bues the  infant  mind  with  homage  to  her  priests,  that 
in  its  countenance  it  bears  the  image  of  its  master. 

Again  :  Methodism,  in  its  arrangements  of  classes 
and  its  varied  other  appliances,  takes  care  early  and 
deeply  to  instamp  upon  all  within  its  pale  "  the 
same  mind  which  was  also  in  "  the  Rev.  John  Wesley. 

Among  the  earlier  Independents  and  in  the  New 
England    churches,   this    training   was    assigned  * 

*  As  their  business  was  to  "  serve  tables,"  with  it  deacons  had  noth- 
ing officially  nor  beyond  private  members  to  do. 


INFLUENCES    ON    SABBATH    SCHOOLS.  239 

to  the  parents,  pastors,  and  elders.  Then  pure  and 
undefiled  religion  abounded  greatly  in  this  land. 
While  by  these  and  similar  arrangements,  among 
Protestants,  provision  was  made  for  instructing,  to 
some  extent,  the  children  of  parents  professing  Chris- 
tianity, yet  it  was  discovered  that  great  numbers  in 
all  dense  masses  of  population,  were  growing  to 
maturity  in  vice.  This  was  the  case  in  many  parts 
of  England,  and  with  a  philanthropic  heart  Robert 
Raikes  is  said  to  have  attempted  first  the  instruction 
of  the  neglected  on  the  Sabbath. 

What  the  progress  of  Sabbath  schools  in  Great 
Britain  has  been  I  am  not  fully  aware;  but  says 
the  author  of  the  "  Teacher  taught,"  "  The  first  per- 
manent organization  in  the  United  States,  of  which 
we  have  any  authentic  record,  was  the  First  Day  or 
Sunday  School  Society,  which  was  established  in 
Philadelphia,  January  11, 1791.  Those  who  united 
in  this  enterprise  were  of  different  denominations 
—  Quakers,  Protestant  Episcopalians,  ccc.  It  was 
confined  to  reading  and  writing  from  the  Bible  and 
such  other  moral  and  religious  books  as  the  society 
may,  from  time  to  time,  direct." 

The  Neiu  York  Sabbath  School  Union  was  insti- 
tuted February  26,  1S16.  Its  design,  among  other 
things,  was  "  to  unite  the  Christian  feelings,  the 
counsels,  and  labors  of  persons  of  different  denom- 
inations in  those  benevolent  undertaking-." 

The  Philadelphia  Sunday  and  Adult  School  Union 
was  formed   May  26,  1817,  and  was  designed  to 


240  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

cultivate  unity  and  charity  among  those  of  different 
names,  &c,  &c.  "  In  obedience  to  a  loud  call  for 
a  new  and  more  general  organization,  which  sug- 
gestion first  came  from  New  York,  this  union  was 
merged,  on  the  25th  of  May,  1824,  into  the  Ameri- 
can Sunday  School  Union."  * 

"  The  grand  principle  on  which  the  American 
Sunday  School  Union  was  organized,  and  is  con- 
ducted, is,  that  the  essential  truths  of  Protestant 
Christianity  are  held  in  common  by  all  evangelical 
denominations,  such  as  Presbyterians,  Congregation- 
alists,  Baptists,  Episcopalians,  Reformed  Dutch," 
&c,  &c.  Such  is  the  union  principle,  that  it  is  said 
to  be  "just  as  much  the  duty  of  a  Baptist  member 
to  protect  the  union  principle  from  violation  in 
those  points  which  affect  the  views  or  doctrines  of 
Methodists,  or  Episcopalians,  as  in  those  which 
affect  his  own  conscience  and  communion."  Of 
course  all  such  protection  of  opposing  doctrines  will 
be  required  from  each  sect  which  enters  this  asso- 
ciation, and  in  this  case  fraternity  may  readily  be- 
come of  more  importance  than  "  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus,"  unless  all,  in  every  particular,  hold  "  the 
doctrine  of  God  our  Savior."  "  Can  two  (or  more) 
walk  together  except  they  be  agreed  ?  "  Are  there 
any  truths  in  "  the  doctrine  of  Christ "  which  are 
not  "  essential  "  ?     (John  xx.  31.) 

*  The  first  Sabbath  school  in  Boston  is  said  to  have  been  established 
in  the  West  Church,  (Unitarian,)  in  1812  ;  others  say  in  the  Third 
Baptist  Church,  in  1816. 


INFLUENCES  ON  SABBATH  SCHOOLS.      241 

There  are  multitudes  of  places  where  the  Sab- 
bath school  has  been  planted  with  vast  results,  and 
there  exist  wide  fields  of  destitution,  where  parents 
care  not  for  the  souls  of  their  children,  and  where 
those  who  "speak  the  truth  in  love"  may  find  a 
wide  door  and  effectual ;  yet  with  all  its  cl^ms  to 
disinterestedness,  as  stated  above,  it  has  a  no  small 
element  of  sectarianism  in  its  operations.  Such  is 
its  vast  charity,  that  the  New  England  Primer 
must  be  excluded,  and  general  questions,  drawn 
from  Scripture,  be  substituted ;  from  which,  as  a 
common  fountain,  all  teachers  may  issue  to  their 
pupils  their  own  doctrinal  opinions,  just  as  a  com- 
pany of  glassblowers,  at  the  same  furnace,  may 
each  tinge  his  work  with  coloring  material  of  any 
shade.  The  Sabbath  school  is  consequently  an 
arena  on  which  all,  or  nearly  all,  denominations 
enter. 

Prelacy  under  its  different  forms,  Congregation- 
alism in  its  ramified  diversities,  and  Presbyterian- 
ism  just  as  it  departs  from  some  of  its  own  leading 
characteristics  and  makes  a  mere  auxiliary  a  pri- 
mary, all  congregate  their  children  under  teachers 
in  their  own  folds,  while  books,  too  often  destitute 
of  "  the  force  of  truth,"  are  selected  by  the  ample 
charity  of  the  "  committee  of  publication."  Al- 
though not  a  few  of  these  are  of  great  usefulness, 
and  afford  profitable  fields  of  reading  to  many, 
others,  it  cannot  be  very  well  denied,  have  such  a 
kindred  affinity  to  fiction,  that  the  youthful  mind, 
21 


242  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

in  the  use  of  such  pabulum  and  condiment,  often 
forms  a  taste  for  works  of  imagination,  or,  at  best, 
of  sentimentality  —  a  taste  which  can  neither  be  cul- 
tivated nor  satisfied  by  reading  the  Bible. 

Presbyterian  parents,  who  vow  to  teach  to  their 
childi^n  their  lost  condition  by  nature,  notwith- 
standing the  supposed  charity  of  the  "  union  prin- 
ciple," cannot,  then,  safely  trust  them  to  irresponsi- 
ble persons  of  other  denominations ;  and  those 
who  have  no  zeal  for  communicating  their  peculiar 
ideas  in  relation  either  to  church  government  and 
discipline,  or  to  scriptural  doctrine  or  worship,  are 
both  "  few  and  far  between,"  and  are  seldom  the 
most  valuable  instructors.  Different,  however,  is 
the  case  with  the  varied  sects  of  Baptists.  To 
them  all  children  are  alike  without  the  pale  of  the 
church,  and  in  the  world  lying  in  wickedness,  form- 
ing no  part  of  the  "  many  nations  "  which  Emanuel 
is  to  "  sprinkle  "  with  "  the  blood  of  sprinkling." 
As  no  church  courts  have  any  control  over  them, 
all  who  fancy  themselves  "  apt  to  teach "  may 
thrust  in  their  sickles  and  proselyte.  To  this  element 
in  the  working  of  "Sunday  schools"  may  be  at- 
tributed no  inconsiderable  part  of  their  denomina- 
tional increase,  of  which  we  must  not  lose  sight  in 
studying  the  philosophy  of  sectarianism. 

Upon  the  early  susceptibilities  of  the  mind,  where 
the  analogy  of  faith  is  not  fairly  presented  to  the 
understanding,  and  where  the  youthful  emotions  of 
the  soul  are  capable  of  deep  feeling  from  the  im- 


INFLUENCES    ON    SABBATH    SCHOOLS.  243 

aginary  as  well  as  from  the  real,  it  is  not  an  impos- 
sible thing  to  make  the  individual  believe  that  he, 
or  she,  as  the  case  may  be,  ought  to  "  follow  the 
Savior  into  a  watery  grave,"  that  in  being  immersed 
they  "  wash  away  "  their  "  sins,"  while  the  opposi- 
tion made  by  others  to  their  peculiar  rite  savors 
not  a  little,  in  their  estimation,  of  the  genuine  re- 
proach of  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  for  this  cardinal 
reason  it  ought  early  to  be  attended  to. 

As  neither  godfathers  nor  believing  parents  have 
presented  them  in  infancy  for  baptism,  the  volatile 
and  capricious  will  may  now  readily  suppose  that 
it  has  hitherto  had  no  connection  with  "  the  cove- 
nant that  was  confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ," 
and  that  the  readiness  of  the  individual  to  be  im- 
mersed, is  a  sure  token  of  the  agency  of  Him 
who  "  sprinkles  many  nations,"  "  in  the  day  of  his 
power.'" 

In  looking  at  the  reports  of  revivals  in  our  day, 
it  is  not  unfrequently  said  that  such  persons  as 
have  joined  particular  churches  were  received  from 
"  the  Sunday  school."  A  little  further  observation 
would  also  show  to  us  that  there  was  no  other 
place  from  which  they  could  come.  In  former 
times,  families,  that  is,  those  properly  connected 
with  churches,  were  Sabbath  schools,  and  from 
them  members  entered  the  church ;  but  now  the 
sound  instruction  and  stern  discipline  of  former 
days  or  generations  are  only,  or  too  nearly  so,  known 
in  history  or  in  domestic  tradition,  while  the  con- 


244  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM, 

sciences  of  many  parents  are  eased  of  almost  all 
sense  of  obligation,  just  as  some  heads  of  house- 
holds would  be  freed  from  care  if  they  only  knew 
that  their  children  could  be  fed  at  a  general  soup 
table  down  town,  and  save  them  the  trouble  of 
cooking  and  feeding  with  a  frequency  commensu- 
rate to  the  wants  of  nature.  As  a  substitute  for 
parental  training,  they  are,  then,  not  safe.  While 
an  irresponsible  class  of  persons  are  thus  thrust 
into  the  affections  of  the  children,  separating  the 
child  from  its  pastor,  from  its  ruling  elders,  and 
measurably,  also,  even  from  the  affections  and 
authority  of  its  own  parents,  "  Teacher  says  so," 
being,  at  least,  too  often  the  practical  and  final  ap- 
peal, Presbyterians  who  consistently  maintain  their 
avowed  doctrines,  and  perform  their  solemn  duties, 
are  chary  as  to  whose  care  they  commit  their  chil- 
dren upon  the  Sabbath.  Still,  under  judicious  ar- 
rangement, parents,  pastors,  and  elders  may  employ, 
to  a  certain  extent,  as  auxiliaries  in  the  religious 
education  of  youth,  Sabbath  school  teachers,  ac- 
cording to  popular  usage;  but  they  cannot,  in 
safety,  rest  on  them  generally  as  substitutes. 
Vows  of  official  position  and  relation  rest  on  them 
individually,  to  which  the  succedaneum  is  a 
stranger. 

"With  all  the  compensating  influences  of  society- 
ism  as  a  panacea,  the  general  sacredness  of  the 
Sabbath  also  suffers  loss  by  the  pleasantry  and 
social  intercourse  which  this  arrangement  for  in- 


INFLUENCES    ON    SABBATH    SCHOOLS.  245 

struction  demands  and  receives,  when  and  where 
the  stern  domestic  sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day- 
is  even  partially  abandoned.  Of  Sabbath  Schools, 
then,  each  order  of  church  polity  does  not  form 
precisely  the  same  estimate  with  the  others. 
21* 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  INFLUENCES   OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  ON  CIVIL 
POLITY. 

There  are  three  departments  of  government 
which  God  has  established  among  men  —  those  of 
the  family,  the  state,  and  the  church.  That  the 
third  of  these  has  important  influences  on  the  first, 
we  have  already  seen ;  and  I  now  proceed  briefly  to 
view  some  of  its  modifications  of  the  other. 

Prelacy  claims  connection  with  the  Jewish  the- 
ocracy, and  in  reference  to  civil  government  reads 
the  New  Testament  under  the  shadows  of  the  Old. 
As  she  there  finds  an  established  order  of  priest- 
hood, altars,  sacrifices,  rites,  and  ceremonies,  so  in 
the  same  field  she  discovers,  at  times,  a  theocracy, 
and  again  a  divinely  established  race  of  kings. 
Hence,  in  all  her  forms,  she  supposes  them  to  reign 
jure  divino,  or  "  by  the  grace  of  God."  Not  only 
as  the  supposed  vicegerent  of  Jehovah  does  the 
Pope  of  Rome  undertake  to  authorize*  kings  to 
reign,  or  to  free  their  subjects  from  them,  (where  he 


*  Hence  the  difficulty  of  Pio  No-no  in  relation  to  crowning  Bonaparte, 
and  thus  cutting  off  Henry  V.  from  the  crown  of  France,  in  1853. 

(246) 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITY.  247 

has  the  power,)  according  to  his  pleasure,  but  when 
King  Henry  VIIL,  of  England,  assumed  the  author- 
ity to  reject  some  of  the  forms,  and  to  alter  some 
of  the  doctrines,  of  the  Papal  church,  it  was  not  to 
abandon  prelacy,  nor  its  assumptions,  but  to  substi- 
tute for  those  of  Popery  the  forms  of  the  Anglican 
church  in  all  its  manifest  sympathies  and  varied 
identities  with  the  Papal,  and  to  claim  for  himself 
and  his  heirs  its  sovereign  headship. 

The  position  of  his  successors  in  relation  to 
church  government  is  well  known ;  and  although, 
rather  than  lose  their  crowns,  two  of  them  yielded 
to  the  just  demands  of  Presbyterianism,  yet  one  of 
these,  James,  "  by  the  grace  of  God  King  and  De- 
fender of  the  Faith,"  could  not  believe  that  even  the 
grace  and  power  of  Heaven  were  sufficient  to  pre- 
serve him  king  in  the  absence  of  prelacy  in  the 
church.*  Hence  his  most  comprehensive  saying 
was,  "  No  bishop,  no  king." 

We  have  already  noted  some  of  the  "  orders  " 
among  prelatic  clergy.  With  them  the  many  are 
obviously  made  for  the  few;  and  similar  always  is 
the  case  with  kings  where  this  order  of  church  gov- 
ernment has  "its  perfect  work."  It  provides  one 
fountain  of  power,  the  throne,  and  places  its  hands 
authoritatively  upon    all  its  subjects.      Hence    all 

*  In  the  second  conference  between  King  James  L,  of  Great 
Britain,  and  the  bishops,  and  Puritan  parties,  together  at  Hampton 
Court,  January  16,  1604,  he  swore  by  his  soul  he  believed  that  a  Scot- 
tish presbytery  as  well  agrees  with  monarchy  as  God  and  the  devil.  — 
Prince's  Chronology,  Vol.  L  p.  10. 


248  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

absolutism,  whether  hereditary  or  assumed,  is 
claimed  on  the  one  hand,  and  submitted  to  on  the 
other,  by  those  who  "  believe  too  much,"  or  who  be- 
lieve in  "the  divine  right  of  kings,"  as  authorized 
by  popes  or  by  their  equivalents.  If,  however,  a 
different  ecclesiastical  regimen  should  be  chosen  by 
a  nation  and  yielded  by  the  throne,  still  on  such  a 
people  the  neighboring  influences  of  prelacy  will 
have  (as  in  Prussia)  an  indirect  regulating  power. 
The  sympathies  of  this  order  of  church  government 
are  strongly  in  unison  with  all  kingly  thrones,  and 
it  has  long  upheld  "  holy  alliances,"  which  are  often 
unfavorable  to  the  advancement  of  nations. 

As  brought  to  bear  upon  civil  governments,  Con- 
gregationalism has  had  no  permanent  existence. 
When  the  colonists  came  with  their  charter  to 
Massachusetts  Bay,  they  had  forgotten  to  ask  for 
power  to  form  a  representative  government,  or 
probably  were  so  alive  to  Independency,  and  so  de- 
termined to  be  in  all  things  regulated  by  it,  that 
"  their  first  General  Court,  which  was  held  on  the 
19th  of  October,  1631,  was  not  by  a  representation, 
but  by  every  one  that  was  free  of  the  corporation 
in  person.  One  hundred  and  nine  freemen  were 
admitted  to  this  court;  besides,  Maverick,  Black- 
stone,  and  many  more,  who  were  not  of  any  of  the 
churches,  were  of  this  number."  * 

Under  this  type   of   church   government  a  few 

*  Hutchinson's  History  of  Massachusetts,  Vol.  I.  p.  30. 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITY.  249 

hundred  persons  may  associate  to  hear,  "  approbate," 
ordain,  hire,  try,  or  dismiss  a  preacher;  but  when 
applied  to  the  government  of  a  colony  or  nation, 
the  idea  becomes  a  political  abstraction,  and  can 
have  only  an  ephemeral  existence,  such  as  it  had  in 
"  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar,"  or  at  the  base  of 
Horeb.  On  Shawm  ut  it  continued  three  years,  and 
then  expired,  for,*  "  The  freemen  were  so  increased 
in  1634,  that  it  was  impracticable  to  debate  and 
determine  matters  in  a  body,  so  that  this  represen- 
tative body  was  a  thing  of  necessity,  but  no  pro- 
vision had  been  made  for  it  in  their  charter." 
While  the  necessities  of  the  case  drove  them  to 
representation,  (which  is  the  life  and  imbodiment 
of  Presbyterianism,  and  which,  in  civil  government, 
even  Congregationalists  have  since  wisely  followed,) 
some  of  the  native,  though  remote  workings  of  the 
social  compact,  when  put  in  operation,  may  be 
found  in  the  earlier  agrarianism  of  Tammany  Hall 
and  in  the  executive  code  of  Judge  Lynch. 

Where  they  coexist,  Presbyterianism  modifies 
Prelacy ;  hence  arise  the  constitutional  barriers  of 
limited  monarchies  and  mixed  governments.  Wher- 
ever it  operates  without  restraint,  presbyterial  gov- 
ernment is  representative  and  republican.  It  can, 
however,  only  be  established  with  the  hope  of  per- 
petuity where  a  people  are  intelligent  and  virtu- 
ous.     Ignorance    and   vice    soon   plunge   it   into 

*  Hutchinson,  VoL  I,  p.  40» 


250  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

anarchy,  or  force  it  under  a  military  despotism,  from 
which,  with  returning  consideration,  may  arise  a 
monarchy  absolute  or  limited.  Correspondent  to 
the  synods,  presbyteries,  and  sessions  of  this  order 
of  regimen,  are  the  national,  state,  and  city,  or 
town  governments,  each  of  them  being  representa- 
tive. A  sessicm  is  composed  of  the  pastor  and 
ruling  elders  of  a  local  church,  and  from  this  affinity 
comes  elder,  olderman,  alderman,  in  city  councils. 
As  a  presbytery  is  composed  of  all  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel  within  a  convenient  boundary,  each  of 
"them  attended  by  an  elder  delegated  by  the  session, 
so  from  the  different  districts  the  two  branches  of 
the  legislature  in  a  commonwealth  are  sent  as  del- 
egates by  representation ;  while  a  general  synod, 
composed  of  one  or  more  ministers  and  one  or  more 
ruling  elders  from  each  presbytery  in  the  different 
synods,  corresponds  to  the  congress  of  a  republic. 
Each  legislature,  state  or  national,  may  not  only 
act  on  joint  ballot,  but  has  also  its  supreme  or  sub- 
ordinate place  and  jurisdiction ;  and  similar  is  the 
antitype,  the  respective  ecclesiastical  courts  of  Pres- 
byterians, in  relation  to  the  enactment  of  statute 
law. 

Forced  by  stern  necessity  from  under  the  over- 
shadowing influences  of  the  Anglican  church  and 
her  ally  the  British  throne,  long  did  the  revolted 
American  colonies,  by  their  agents,  labor  to  devise 
some  system  of  government  by  which  the  rights  of 
states  might  not  be  merged  into  those  of  the  nation  ; 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITY.  251 

and  they  eventually  succeeded  by  simply  adopting 
a  fac  simile  of  the  Presbyterian  regimen.* 

In  Massachusetts  especially,  as  in  it  Congrega- 
tionalism had,  with  greatly  preponderating  f  influ- 
ences, framed  public  sentiment,  the  adoption  of  the 
federal  constitution  and  its  subordinating  arrange- 
ments met  with  decided  opposition,  and  was  carried 
by  only  a  majority  of  nineteen  out  of  the  votes  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty-five  delegates.  It  is  also  a 
coincidence  not  a  little  anomalous,  that  the  consti- 
tution which  placed  this  state  within  the  pale  of, 
and  subordinate  to,  the  nation,  in  its  legislature,  ju- 
diciary, and  executive,  was  adopted  on  the  only 
portion  of  the  soil  J  of  Massachusetts  entailed  for 
the  exclusive  use  of  worshippers  according  to  the 
Presbyterian  form  forever. 

After  seven  days  of  ineffectual  attempts  to  hear, 
in  the  Brattle  Street  Church,  the  subject  was  de- 
bated for  seventeen  days  in  the  Presbyterian  meet- 
ing house  in  Long  Lane,  which,  from  the  fact  that 
this  national  bond  was  there  adopted  on  Wednes- 


*  See  Appendix,  D. 

f  Prelacy,  whether  Papal,  Anglican,  or  Methodistical,  had  then,  in 
1788,  no  ministry,  and  hardly,  even  in  the  two  Protestant  forms,  a 
single  adherent  in  this  commonwealth.  There  existed  in  1776  in  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  the  District  of  Maine,  a  synod  of  about 
twenty  churches,  having  two  of  its  presbyteries  —  those  of  Salem  and 
Palmer —  within  the  Bay  State,  in  which  were  then  found  about  three 
hundred  Congregational  churches,  besides  a  number  of  Regular  Baptists. 

X  There  may  possibly  be  others,  for  of  the  fifteen  churches  in  Mas- 
sachusetts held  under  Presbyterian  tenure,  according  to  the  United 
States  census  of  1850,  only  three  are  occupied  by  Presbyterians. 


252  PHILOSOPHY    OP    SECTARIANISM, 

day,  February  6, 1788,  was  henceforth  called  Federal 
Street  Church. 

To  the  analogy  which  subsists  between  the  Pres- 
byterian regimen  and  the  government  of  the  United 
Slates,  supreme  and  subordinate)  both  Congrega- 
tionalists  and  Prelatists  lay  claim.  Both  claims 
are,  however,  only  imaginary,  or,  at  best}  borrowed 
where  any  similarity  exists*  In  the  framework  of 
a  church  of  the  former  order,  with  its  absolute  and 
total  independence,  relative  subordination  cannot 
be  discovered,  beyond  mere  advice,  excepting  what 
is  borrowed  from  Presbytery* 

From  Episcopacy  our  republican  civil  govern* 
ment  originally  borrowed  nothing,  notwithstanding 
the  assumption  of  the  late  Bishop  Hobart,  that 
"our  own  church  is,  in  some  respects,  more  con- 
formed than  any  other  religious  communities  to  the 
organization  of  our  civil  government."  It  is,  since 
the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  which  was  formed 
by  representation,  totally  Presbyterian.  He  claims 
it  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
church,  that  her  legislative  power  is  divided  be- 
tween two  branches,  and  that  she  alone  is  thus  like 
our  civil  governments ;  "  for,"  says  he,  "  in  our  ec- 
clesiastical judicatories  the  representatives  of  the 
laity  possess  strict  coordinate  authority-^  the  power 
of  voting  as  a  separate  body,  and  of  annulling  by 
a  majority  of  votes  the  acts  of  the  bishops  and 
clergy."  In  Presbyterian  rule,  each  minister  is  met 
by  a  ruling  elder  representing  his  church,  and  they  can 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITY*  253 

thus,  if  not  "  nullify  by  a  majority  of  votes,"  always 
hinder  by  an  equal  number  the  acts  of  their  clergy- 
men. It  must  be  here  noticed  that  we  are  not  to 
understand  that  Protestant  Episcopacy  is  actually 
and  exclusively  "  conformed "  to  our  republican 
government,  but  it  is  "  more  conformed  than  other 
religious  communities  to  our  civil  government." 

The  truth  of  the  whole  thing  is  this  —  the  ruling 
elders  in  every  church  court  can  "  annul  by  a  ma- 
jority of  votes "  the  sinister  designs  and  "  acts  of 
their  pastors,"  and  no  enactment  of  a  synod  can  be 
permanently  binding  on  the  people  without  the  ex- 
pressed sanction  of  a  majority  of  the  presbyteries 
composing  said  synod.*  These  principles  of  legis- 
lation form  some  of  the  most  obvious  lineaments 
of  our  republican  government,  and  they  were  all 
borrowed,  by  the  light  of  common  sense  in  the 
"  continental "  assembly  of  representatives  which 
elaborated  our  civil  constitution,  and  all  its  subor- 
dinate parts  and  details,  from  the  form  of  church 
regimen  written  in  the  Westminster  confession  of 
faith. f  As  our  civil  one  was  borrowed  from  this 
form  of  government,  and  was  only  the  echo  of  it, 
so  the  boasted  "  our  own  church  "  of  the  bishop, 
although  "  more  conformed  in  some  respects  "  to 


*  So  it  was  agreed  upon  by  their  representatives,  that  if  nine  of  the 
original  thirteen  states  should  adopt  the  constitution,  it  should  be 
binding  on  the  rest.  That  synod  overtured  and  sent  the  matter  down 
to  the  presbyteries,  to  the  state  legislatures. 

t  See  Appendix,  D. 

22 


254  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

this  echo,  is  merely,  in  this  point  of  view,  the  echo 
of  that  echo. 

All  attempts  to  induce  intelligent  citizens  under 
this  government  to  believe  that  prelacy  is  even  the 
foster  parent  of  our  republic,  or  by  nature  friendly 
to  any  of  its  peculiar  interests,  should  be  met  by 
the  consideration,  that  its  distinct  and  peculiar  na- 
ture and  character  forbid  it ;  that  "  the  Ethiopian 
cannot  change  his  skin,"  and  notwithstanding  it 
has  been  said  by  Professor  Bowen,  (Lowell  lecture, 
February  24,  1852,)  that  "  the  revolution  was  the 
first  war  between  the  people  and  their  government 
not  kindled  by  theological  contentions,  and  success- 
fully carried  on;"  that  the  whole  war  of  the  Ameri- 
can revolution  was  but  one  between  the  Presbyte- 
rian confession  of  faith  and  catechisms  (of  which 
"the  New  England  Primer"  forms  a  vital  part)  on* 
the  one  hand,  and  the  "service"  and  "Prayer 
Book  "  of  the  Anglican  church  on  the  other.  "  One 
of  the  principal  causes  of  the  revolution  was,  the 
active  correspondence  maintained  between  Episco- 
palians in  the  colonies  and  the  authorities  of  Britain, 
to  set  up  bishops  over  all  the  inhabitants.  American 
independence  was  owing  more  to  the  republican 
views  of  the  clergy,  and  the  weight  which  their 
opinions  had  with  the  people,  than  to  any  other 


*  There  was  point  in  the  saying  of  the  loyalists  who  founded  the  city 
of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  that  "  if  it  were  not  for  Presbyterians 
and  Presbyterian  principles,  the  United  States  would  have  all  continued 
to  be  good  British  colonies." 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITV.  255 

cause."  *  And  says  the  eloquent  Bancroft,  "  The 
first  voice  publicly  raised  in  America  to  dissolve  all 
connection  with  Great  Britain,  came  not  from  the 
Puritans  of  New  England,  or  the  Dutch  of  New 
York,  or  the  planters  of  Virginia,  but  from  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians.  They  brought  to  America  no 
submissive  love  for  England,  and  their  experience 
and  their  religion  alike  bade  them  meet  oppression 
with  prompt  resistance."  f 

The  facts  that  in  the  Continental  Congress,  "  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Duche,  by  invitation,  on  the  7th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1774,  read  several  prayers  in  the  established 
form,  in  connection  with  the  thirty-fifth  psalm, 
which  Episcopalians  call  the  collect  for  that  day, 
and  subsequently  (as  John  Adams  expressed  it) 
"  struck  out  into  an  extemporaneous  prayer ; "  that 
the  Rev.  William  (afterwards  Bishop)  White  and 
a  very  few  others  among  the  clergy,  that  Washing- 
ton, Jay,  and  some  others  among  "the  laity,"  were 
Episcopalians,  and  yet  were  the  earnest  defenders 
of  the  soil,  are  only  exceptions  which  strengthen 
my  position.  Washington  did  what  no  true  prela- 
tist,  no  believer  in  an  apostolical  succession,  could 
have  done  —  asked  for  and  partook  of  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  supper  from  a  schismatic,  a  dissenter, 
a  Presbyterian  minister,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jones,  of  Mor- 
listown,   New  Jersey,  joined  with  a  Presbyterian 


*  John  Adams. 

f  History  United  States,  Vol.  V.  p.  77.     See  Appendix,  D. 


256  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

church  in  sitting  down  at  the  Lord's  table  instead 
of  "  kneeling  meekly  upon  his  knees  "  at  an  altar, 
so  called,  and  afterwards  confessed  that  to  his  soul 
the  reminiscences  of  that  day  were  sweet. 

The  few  clergymen  among  Episcopalians,  who, 
during  the  war  of  the  revolution,  felt  friendly  to  the 
interests  of  the  soil  when  they  attempted  to  worship 
canonically,  had  to  pray  through  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  London,  to  whose  diocess  they  belonged.  The 
modicum  of  apostolic  succession  which  had  hither- 
to vivified  their  liturgy  then  became  extinct,  and 
a  genuine  prelatic  prayer  they  could  not  offer  for 
the  success  of  the  colonists  without  his  lordship's 
authority* 

As  Diana  is  said  to  have  lost  her  temple  while 
she  was  superintending  the  birth  of  Alexander,  so 
Protestant  prelacy  on  the  soil  of  the  thirteen  re- 
volted colonies,  on  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1776, 
saw  her  genuine  "  tactual  succession,"  which  had 
been  communicated  through  King  Henry  VIII. 
and  Archbishop  Cranmer,  become  canonically  lost 
for  above  nine  years,  or  until  the  head  of  the  Angli- 
can church  had  to  acknowledge  the  American 
national  independence,  and  not  only  tolerate  the 
ordination  of  Bishop  Seabury  at  Aberdeen,  in  1784, 
but  also,  in  1786,  ratify  an  act  of  Parliament  author- 
izing "  the  consecration  of  bishops  for  foreign  places." 
Then,  after  this  nation  became  independent  of  a 
throne,  and  of  Episcopal  forms  as  the  state  religion, 
American  prelacy,  like  those  human  beings  who 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITY.  257 

survive  the  throes  of  an  earthquake,  began  to 
breathe,  and  creep,  and  walk.  Having  regained 
the  thread  of  "  succession,"  she  soon  says,  "  I  will 
go  out  as  at  other  times  before  and  shake  myself." 
(Judges  xvi.  20.)  Hence  boasts  her  very  Samson, 
"  Our  own  church  is  in  some  respects  more  con- 
formed than  other  religious  communities  to  the 
organization  of  our  civil  government."  •  The  ten- 
dency of  such  a  statement  to  mislead  the  unwary 
forms  my  apology  for  the  apparent  severity  of  this 
language. 

And  notwithstanding  that,  against  the  rule  of  the 
federal  legislature,  (which  declares  that  the  same 
sect  shall  not  have  both,)  the  Episcopal  Methodists, 
in  1853-4,  occupy  both  chaplaincies  in  Congress, 
this  sect  in  the  revolutionary  struggle  was  equally 
with  Protestant  Episcopacy  opposed  to  those  who 
were  believers  in  the  Westminster  standards,  and 
who  secured,  by  their  blood,  American  indepen- 
dence and  liberty  of  conscience  in  this  land.  To 
give  true  prelatic  form  to  the  labors  of  Mr.  Embury 
(who  had  erected  the  banner  of  the  Rev.  John 
Wesley  in  New  Y*)rk,  in  1766)  and  Messrs.  Webb 
and  Strawbridge,  "  Messrs.  Richard  Boardman  and 
Joseph  Pilmore  were  sent,  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  Wesley,  to  America,  in  1769."  In  1771,  Messrs. 
Asbury  and  Wright  came  over,  and  in  1773  the 
first  regular  conference  was  held  at  Philadelphia, 
under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Thomas  Rankin, 
who  had  been   sent   by  Mr.  Wesley  to  take  the 

99* 


258  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

general  oversight  (or  bishopric)  in  this  country.  "  In 
England,  Mr.  Wesley  professed  a  strong  attach- 
ment to  the  established  church,  and  exhorted  his 
societies  to  attend  her  service  and  receive  the  Lord's 
supper  from  the  regular  clergy;  but  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  time,  he  thought  proper  to  ordain  some 
bishops  and  priests  for  America  and  Scotland."  * 
"  These  zealous  missionaries  spread  themselves  in 
different  directions  through  the  country;"!  Dut  like 
the  warhorse  in  the  days  of  Job,  they  "  smelled  the 
battle  afar  off,"  they  foresaw  "  the  sanguinary  con- 
flict," and  "during  the  revolutionary  war  all  the 
preachers  from  Europe,  except  Mr.  Asbury,  returned 
to  their  native  land."  t 

"  Home,  home,  sweet  home." 

Some  zealous  young  men,  (natives,  it  would 
seem,)  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Asbury, 
continued  to  preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Rev. 
John  Wesley  in  the  colonies;  and  after  independ- 
ence had  been  secured  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  lives 
of  thousands  of  Calvinists,  and  by  the  waste  of 
millions  of  their  treasure,  in  1784  Dr.  Thomas 
Coke  came  to  America  with  the  fourth  thread  of 
apostolical  succession,  or  "with   powers  to  consti- 


*  Buck.  f  Rev.  Dr.  Bangs. 

X  This  returning  home  was  precisely  what  Episcopal  clergymen  gen- 
erally did  at  that  period ;  and  the  wary  preachers  of  that  sagacious 
man  were  not  a  whit  behind  those  of  a  kindred  ecclesiastical  regimen 
in  seeking  personal  safety.     "  No  servant  can  serve  two  masters." 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITY.  259 

tute  the  Methodist  societies  into  an  independent 
church." 

As  the  "  zealous  young  men "  (of  Dr.  Bangs) 
"  were  considered  only  lay  preachers,"  and  at  the 
"  uniform  advice  of  Mr.  Wesley,  had  declined  ad- 
ministering the  ordinances,"  so  "  after  maturely 
weighing  the  subject  in  his  own  mind,"  he  "  being 
assisted  by  other  presbyters  of  the  church  of 
England,  by  prayer  and  imposition  of  hands,  set 
apart  a  presbyter  of  said  church,  Thomas  Coke, 
LL.  D.,  as  a  superintendent  of  the  Methodist  socie- 
ties in  America,  and  directed  him  to  consecrate  Mr. 
Francis  Asbury  for  the  same  office."  Obeying  the 
directions  of  his  master,  who  then  lived  and  reigned, 
he,  at  a  conference  of  sixty-one  Methodist  preachers, 
at  Baltimore,  on  December  25,  1784,  ordained 
Mr.  Asbury  "  first  to  the  office  of  deacon,  then  elder, 
and  then  superintendent  or  bishop.  Twelve  of  the 
preachers  were  elected,  and  ordained  elders  at  the 
same  conference." 

As  Americus  supplanted  Columbus  in  the  honor 
of  identifying  his  name  with  a  whole  continent,  so 
Mr.  Morgan,  who,  it  is  said,  was  the  founder  of 
Methodism,  was  then  forgotten,  and  the  Rev.  John 
Wesley  was  at  that  date  as  the  supreme  head  to  a 
fourth  Episcopal  church  on  earth,*  not  only  a  ruler 

*  The  second  prelatic  head  in  Christendom,  or  the  "supreme 
patriarch "  of  the  Greek  church,  formerly  resided  in  Moscow ;  but 
in  1716,  Peter  I.  abolished  this  high  office,  which  seemed  to  rival 
the  temporal  power ;  and  when  the  czar  was  asked,  "  Who  is  now  the 


260  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

over  his  numerous  preachers  and  people  in  Europe, 
but  was  also  the  ecclesiastical  channel  of  commu- 
nication Romeward  to  "  eighty-three  preachers  and 
fourteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
members  in  society,"  in  America.*  So  much,  and 
no  more,  do  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the 
United  States  owe  to  Episcopal  Methodism.  Had 
its  influences  begun  in  the  colonies  fifty  years 
earlier,  and  been  as  extensively  felt  as  they  have 
been  elsewhere  since,  it  would  not  require  more 
than  one  guess  to  determine  their  choice  of  com- 
panionship, in  1776,  between  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  and  the  New  England  Primer. 

Thus  each  form  of  church  government  moulds, 
as  it  obtains  the  ascendant,  the  throne,  or  the  re- 
public, while,  in  their  combinations,  they  modify 
proportion  ably  their  respective  special  results.  Hav- 
ing nothing  in  common,  excepting  opposition  to 
anarchy,  together  in  full  operation  they  cannot  dwell. 

patriarch  ?  "  he  replied,  haughtily,  "  I  am ;  "  and  from  that  time  the  Mus- 
covite emperors  have  been  the  visible  heads  of  the  church.  They  are 
pontiffs,  like  the  Roman  emperors;  they  cannot  perform  any  priestly 
office,  but  they  speak  to  the  people  as  the  nearest  representatives  of 
God ;  they  confer  on  whom  they  please  the  principal  ecclesiastial  of- 
fices, and  all  the  important  business  of  the  church.  Their  decisions  are 
without  appeal ;  they  claim  almost  a  Papal  infallibility.  The  three  met- 
ropolitans have  their  sees  at  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  Kief."  — 
"  X."  in  New  York  Observer,  December,  15,  1853. 

*  Supposing  that  these  fifteen  thousand  and  seventy-one  "preachers 
and  members  in  society  "  had  individually  served  on  the  field  of  battle, 
they  would  have  formed  less  than  the  one  fifteenth  of  the  two  hundred 
and  thirty-one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-one  soldiers  who 
were  engaged  in  the  war  of  the  revolution. 


INFLUENCES    ON    CIVIL    POLITY.  261 

Hence,  on  St.  Helena,  the  friend  and  scourge  of 
millions  of  his  race  said,  "  In  fifty  years,  continental 
Europe  will  be  either  Cossack  or  republican." 
Both,  at  the  same  time,  neither  continent  nor  nation 
can  be ;  and  each  form  of  ecclesiastical  regimen 
can  be  traced  by  its  results  on  national  govern- 
ments throughout  Christendom.  In  this  comparison 
I  refer  exclusively  to  .Prelacy  and  Presbytery;  for 
Congregationalism,  as  we  have  seen,  has  no  sym- 
pathies with  nations,  but  only  with  isolated  groups ; 
and  the  fact  I  cite  "  in  point,"  that  of  the  political 
journals  in  the  Southern  States,  which,  during 
1851-2,  advocated  a  secession  from,  and  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Union,  five,  at  least,  are  said  to 
be  conducted  by  New  England  men.  Again  :  in 
the  Northern  States,  none  but  Congregationalists, 
and  those  virtually  conformed,  in  part  at  least,  to 
this  ecclesiastical  regimen,  have  desired  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Union,  even  while  they  see,  by  perverted 
legislation,  some  of  its  blessings  turned  into  curses. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THEIR  INFLUENCES   ON  MIXED   QUESTIONS.  —  ON 
CAPITAL  PUNISHMENT. 

The  formation  of  man  we  can  leafn  from  divine 
revelation  alone  ;  and  while  only  from  the  same 
source  can  we  ascertain  the  laws  by  which,  in  his 
approach  to  God  and  intercourse  with  man,  he  can 
be  safely  governed,  yet  in  relation  to  some  depart- 
ments of  duty,  even  "  Nature  itself  teaches "  us. 
In  nothing  concerning  him  is  her  voice  more  dis- 
tinctly heard  than  in  the  duty  of  self-preservation. 
She,  unitedly  with  revelation,  declares,  "  All  that  a 
man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life." 

Beyond  the  landmarks  of  those  nations  favored 
with  the  word  of  God,  as  well  as  among  them, 
"the  avenger  of  blood"  has  ever  been  known,  and 
has  had  a  place  in  connection  with  the  crime  of 
wilful  murder.  Apart  from  any  knowledge  by  the 
sacred  Scriptures  of  God  as  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth,  and  apart  from  any  intention  to  promote  his 
glory  by  yielding  obedience  to  his  commands  in 
the  case,  the  safety  of  human  life  always  demands 
that  a  wilful  murderer  should  be  put  to  death. 

The  Bible,  as  read  by  Presbyterians  and  Episco- 

(262) 


CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  263 

palians,  always  returns  the  same  verdict,  with  the 
great  reason  why,  in  inseparable  connection,"  Whoso 
sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be 
shed;  for  in  the  image  of  God  made  he  man." 
Hence,  in  all  legislation  upon  this  subject  where 
either  of  these  two  forms  of  church  polity  has  the 
control,  the  interpretation  of  this  statute  of  Jehovah, 
delivered  to  every  descendant  of  Noah,  is  literal  in 
relation  to  wilful  murder. 

It  is  also  a  matter  of  unfeigned  regret  that  Prel- 
acy, especially  in  her  Papal  form,  has  often,  very 
often,  inflicted  this  awful  punishment,  through  an 
excess  of  faith,  beyond  the  authority  of  the  Bible, 
and  has  "  slain  heaps  upon  heaps,"  not  for  murder 
at  all,  but  because  they  refused  the  bondage  of  her 
"  apostolic  succession,"  her  "  rites  and  ceremonies," 
and  other  peculiarities.  This  statute  of  the  supreme 
Lawgiver  and  Judge  of  nations  in  relation  to  de- 
liberate murder,  those  who  believe  too  little  interpret 
variously.  Just  so  far  as  they  borrow  the  doctrine 
of  Presbyterians,  Independents,  when  called  to  the 
solemn  duty,  after  due  process  of  law,  and  on  evi- 
dence amounting  to  perfect  proof  of  guilt,  execute 
the  murderer;  but  where,  by  modern  Congregation- 
alists,  a  discriminating  tariff  is  imposed  on  portions 
of  the  word  of  God,  and  some  "  verses  "  are  found 
more  "  useful  "  than  others,  "  the  death  penalty  '  is 
viewed  as  dark,  Jewish,  cloudy,  and  anti-Christian, 
and  the  authority  of  God,  speaking  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, is  rejected  as  at  war  with  reason  and  humanity. 


264  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

By  such,  this  last  and  most  awful  demand  of  hu- 
man law  is  supposed  to  be  only  a  relic  of  barba- 
rism, or,  at  best,  only  an  enactment  of  Moses,  which 
has  passed  away;  yet  there  is  no  evidence  that,  like 
the  ordinance  of  the  "  red  heifer,"  it  belonged  solely 
to  Jewish  peculiarities.  Abundant  proof,  apart 
from  ail  that  transpired  from  the  passage  of  Israel 
through  the  Red  Sea  until  Judea  became  a  prov- 
ince, can  be  obtained  to  show  that  it  has  been,  is, 
and  will  be,  a  universal  law  of  our  race  so  long 
as  "  out  of  the  heart  of  man  proceed  murders." 
The  "  mark  set  upon  Cain,"  rather  than  impose  the 
official  duties  of  the  avenger  of  blood  upon  his  own 
father ;  the  aggravated  conduct  of  Lamech,  and  his 
guilt  of  conscience ;  the  assurance  which  Rebekah 
had,  that  if  Esau  should  kill  Jacob,  that  very  day 
he  also  would  become  dead  in  law,  and  she  should 
"  be  deprived  of  them  both  in  one  day ; "  the  fact 
that,  when  Moses  slew  the  Egyptian  when  vindicat- 
ing one  of  his  brethren  in  bondage,  Pharaoh,  for  his 
doing  so,  "  sought  to  slay  him,"  are  cases  over  which 
the  Mosaic  ritual  had  no  control,  and  they  either 
bear  conclusively  upon  this  subject,  or  are  useless 
and  inexplicable  mysteries,  interspersed  in  the  sacred 
volume  to  bewilder  the  reader. 

Again  :  while  "  God,  in  these  last  days,  has  spoken 
to  us  by  his  Son,"  He  who  "  spake  as  never  man 
spake"  has  said,  "'Thou  shalt  do  no  murder."  If 
this  were  a  mere  declaration  without  an  adequate 
penalty,  it  amounted  to  nothing  but  solemn  trilling. 


CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  265 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  forms,  so  far  as  his 
authority  is  regarded  who  has  said,  "  Murderers 
shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burneth  with 
fire  and  brimstone,  which  is  the  second  death," 
(Rev.  xxi.  8,)  a  barrier  against  "the  taking  away 
of  our  own  life  or  the  life  of  our  neighbor  un- 
justly," and  subordinately,  "whatsoever  tendeth 
thereunto." 

When,  doomed  by  fiendish  perjury  and  black  in- 
justice to  an  ignominious  death,  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
was  nailed  "  with  wicked  hands  "  to  the  accursed 
tree  by  his  murderers,  his  Father  "  spared  not  his 
own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  "  to  offended  justice. 
Compared  with  those  modern*  sentimentalists  who 
encompass  a  murderer  with  more  than  a  father's 
pity  or  a  mother's  love,  and  have  no  sympathy  (or 
but  a  secondary  one)  with  the  murdered  or  the 
bereaved,  the  God  of  vengeance,  when  making 
"inquisition  for  blood,"  appears  to  be,  in  their  esti- 
mation, destitute  of  philanthropy. 

Made  in  the  image  of  God,  no  man  is  permitted 
to  take  his  own  life,  or  at  any  time  to  throw  it  away; 
yet  even  when  guided  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
apostle  places  on  record  for  our  imitation  this  as- 
severation, "  If  I  have  committed  any  thing  worthy 
of  death,  I  refuse  not  to  die."  Reading,  then,  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  'light  of  the  New,  we  find 
this  law  given  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  that 
the  wilful  murderer  shall  surely  be  put  to  death  ; 
and  even  in  the  light  of  nature  the  whole  family  of 
23 


266 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


nations  ever  have  read  and  now  read  this  law  thus. 
Hence,  when  the  barbarous  people  of  Melita  saw 
the  viper  hang  upon  Paul's  hand,  the  spontaneous 
and  unanimous  impulse  of  their  conscience  was 
but'  the  voice  of  the  divine  law  to  Noah,  speaking 
by  the  light  of  nature  from  every  human  bosom, 
"  No  doubt  this"  man  is  a  murderer,  whom  though 
her  hath  escaped  the  sea,  yet  vengeance  suffereth 
not  to  live."  This  declaration  did  not  arise  from 
a  superabundance  of  credulity  in  the  law  of  Moses, 
of  which  they  knew  nothing;  and  its  echo,  eighteen 
hundred  years  afterwards,  is  now  repeated,  not  only 

by 

"  the  poor  Indian,  whose  untutored  mind 
Sees  God  in  clouds  or  hears  him  in  the  wind," 

but  by  every  conscience  which  is  not,  at  least 
partially,  seared  with  modern  infidelity,  or,  in  other 
words,  "  believes  too  little." 

While  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  adopted  the  Mosaic 
code,  and  at  times  most  wrongfully  executed  per- 
sons for  crimes  which  did  not  amount  at  all  to 
wilful  murder,  some  of  the  standard  bearers  of 
(what  remains  of)  their  church  polity  have  im- 
agined that  under  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  comfort  and  pleasure  of  the  murderer,  and 
not  the  safety  of  the  innocent,  nor  the  will  of  the 
eternal  Lawgiver,  should  regulate  capital  punish- 
ment ;  and  they  consequently  desire  its  abolition. 
To  overthrow  it,  the  usual  modern  appliances  have 
been  provided.     A  society  has  been  formed,  a  mag- 


CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  267 

azine  has  been  published,  and  Jecturers  have  been 
employed.  Almost  every  new  winter  witnesses  in 
Boston  (which  has  been  emphatically  styled,  by  the 
Rev.  A.  King,  Congregationalist  minister  of  Dublin, 
"  the  Mount  Zion  of  the  whole  earth  ")  the  organi- 
zation of  a  new  society  for  the  removal  of  some 
of  "  the  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to ; "  and  in  these  the 
same  persons  are  often  found  acting  in  similar 
positions.  Hence  in  societies,  as  different  in  name 
as  "anti-Sabbath,"  "anti-capital  punishment,"  and 
"  spiritual  rapping,"  the  same  characters  may  be 
found  acting  their  brief  part  in  each.  Their  hallu- 
cinations might  be  considered  comparatively  harm- 
less if  they  labored  only  in  their  legitimate  sphere ; 
but  they  pretend  also  to  know  the  proper  treatment 
of  the  criminal,  the  whole  subject  of  prison  reform, 
and  that  of  the  prevention  of  crime,  and  on  these 
subjects  they  feel  qualified  to  enlighten  the  govern- 
ments of  the  earth.  In  proof  of  this  I  quote  from 
"  a  letter  "  addressed  "  to  the  clergymen  of  America," 
dated  "  Boston,  March  4, 1851,"  and  signed  "  Charles 
Spear : "  "  And  the  present  year  we  have  designed 
to  visit  Europe  for  six  months,  to  meet  the  questions 
of  the  British  government,  and  to  create  a  friendly 
feeling  between  England  and  America  on  the  great 
question  of  the  prevention  of  crime.  Hon.  Daniel 
"Webster  has  given  us  a  letter  addressed  to  her 
majesty's  principal  secretary  of  state  for  the  home 
department.  The  government  has  thus  sanctioned 
this   movement.     Will  you  not,  then,  deem  it  a 


268  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

privilege  to  assist  in  a  work  of  so  high  a  character? 
or  if  you  have  any  facts  or  peculiar  views,  please 
forward  them,  (post  paid,)  and  they  will  be  con- 
veyed to  England.  Please  forward  any  means, 
however  small,  before  May  1,  1851,  and  the  sums 
will  be  faithfully  appropriated  by  the  committee." 

How  much  illumination,  on  all  or  each  of  these 
important  topics,  the  British  government  received 
from  this  reverend  Universalist  Editor,  I  am 
not  informed ;  but  in  the  parturition  of  societyism 
for  1852,  he  appears  as  a  vice  president  for  a  spirit- 
ual rapping  association,  of  a  meeting  of  which  a 
notice  was  thus  taken,  in  September,  1852,  by  the 
Boston  papers :  — 

"  A  few  unquestionable  lunatics  assembled  in  our 
city  last  week,  and  held  what  they  called  a  '  Con- 
vention of  Spiritualists?  A  few  sorry  and  deluded 
specimens  of  humanity  took  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  convention,  which  were  of  a  nature 
little  calculated  to  excite  any  other  sensation  than 
those  of  disgust  and  pity.  A  majority  of  the  audi- 
ence were  present  from  curiosity,  that  ever-impel- 
ling element  in  the  popular  mind.  There  is  always 
a  class  that  will  encourage  any  charlatanism,  how- 
ever palpable  and  ridiculous,  by  perpetually  dancing 
attendance  upon  it.  It  is  this  which  gives  vitality 
to  so  many  humbugs  of  the  day — spiritualism 
among  them. 

"  The  proceedings  in  the  convention  did  not  vary 
from   those  which    have   been   practised   in  other 


CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  269 

places  where  the  '  mediums  '  have  been  pleased  to 
exhibit  their  foolish  '  manifestations.'  Several  men 
and  women,  who  ought  to  be  thoroughly  ashamed 
of  themselves,  got  up  and  made  queer  antics  in 
speech  and  person ;  one  moment  swinging  their 
arms,  another  their  bodies,  and  then  spouting  sick- 
ening messes  of  nonsense  —  all  the  while  pretend- 
ing to  be  in  communication  with  the  <  spirit  world.' 
This  is  not  only  the  height  of  folly,  but,  as  we  con- 
ceive it,  the  summit  of  blasphemy.  It  is  painful 
to  see  these  lunatics  play  their  madhouse  didoes. 
Poor,  imbecile,  fallen,  shattered  specimens  of  hu- 
manity, vainly  imagining  themselves  in  a  land  of 
spirits,  a  knowledge  of  which  it  is  as  utterly  impos- 
sible for  mankind  to  have  as  it  is  to  look  a  million 
years  into  the  future.  The  whole  thing  is  based 
on  the  most  miserable  of  delusions,  and  so  sure  as 
it  is  allowed  to  progress,  will  the  madhouse  receive 
its  victims  by  scores. 

"  We  learn  that  it  is  the  intention  of  these  '  spirit- 
ual '  charlatans  to  hold  weekly  meetings  in  this  city. 
We  are  sorry  to  hear  it.  We  had  hoped  that  such 
a  delusion  —  so  fearfully  prolific  of  evil,  and  so  en- 
tirely innocent  of  a  possibility  of  good  —  would 
have  no  permanent  countenance  in  this  commu- 
nity. We  still  think  the  humbug  will  speedily  ex- 
plode. 

"  The  Courier  closes  an  account  of  the  conven- 
tion as  follows  :  '  At  such  a  spectacle  of  "  Bedlam 
broke  loose  "  as  is  displayed  in  this  exhibition  of 
23* 


270  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

charlatans  and  dupes,  one  is  overcome  with  mingled 
emotions  of  indignation  and  melancholy.  The 
knaves  who  encourage  this  monstrous  and  wicked 
delusion  deserve  to  be  treated  as  public  criminals. 
The  poor  creatures  who  are  led  away  and  besotted 
by  their  tricks  should  be  seat  to  a  lunatic  asylum, 
or  cured  of  the  disorder  in  their  brains  by  being 
set  to  earn 'a  living  in  some  decent  employment.' 

"  We  echo  amen,  most  heartily,  though  the  delu- 
sion does  include  John  M.  Spear,  Rev.  Charles 
Spear,  Rev.  Adin  Ballou,  Andrew  Jackson  Davis, 
Wm.  Porter,  Le  Roy  Sunderland,  Eliza  J.  Kinney, 
Eunice  Cobb,  and  others."  * 

Judging  from  the  devastation  of  sound  mind 
produced  by  the  abetters  of  this  new  society  in 
New  England  and  elsewhere,!  if  ne  should  revisit 
Britain,  thus  so  honorably  introduced,  it  would  not 
appear  astonishing  if  lunatic  asylums  might  be 
found  increasingly  useful. 

In  some  of  those  states  where  Congregational- 
ism moulds  public  opinion  and  the  laws,  the  aboli- 
tion of  this  penalty  has  taken  place.  Michigan,  in 
1846,  set  the  example,  and  her  grand  juries  (in  De- 
troit, especially)  have  begged,  and  prayed,  and  en- 
treated its  restoration.  But  in  vain.  Among  some 
believers  in  this  ecclesiastical  polity  it  is  loudly 
hinted  that  even  grand  juries  are  rather  troublesome 

*  Boston  Bee. 

t  In  the  New  York  State  Lunatic  Asylum  last  year,  (1853,)  there 
were  fourtcon  admissions  from  the  effects  of  spiritual  rapping. 


CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  271 

to  certain  classes,  and  that  they  must  pass  into  ob- 
livion to  promote  "  the  largest  liberty." 

Upon  this  career  of  experiment  Rhode  Island 
next  entered,  and  in  1852  declared  that,  "  Whoso 
sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall "  not  "  his  blood 
be  shed."  However,  according  to  the  humane  and 
philanthrophic  Miss  Dix,this  state  requires  commis- 
eration as  well  as  blame,  being  the  most  extensively 
insane  of  any  in  the  Union,*  and  (according  to  her)" 
about  ten  times  as  much  so  as  South  Carolina. 
Massachusetts,  favored  earliest  and  most  effectually 
by  the  labors  of  the  Messrs.  Spears,  has  succeeded 
in  robbing  the  gallows  of  the  murderer  for  a  year, 
by  consigning  him  to  prison,  and  then  to  be  executed 
only  when  the  governor  and  his  council  may  so 
agree  to  order. 

To  prove  that  such  legislators  have  more  wisdom 
and  philanthropy  than  God  himself,  the  prison 
where  he  will  be  comfortably  maintained  is  to  be 
the  resting-place  of  the  murderer,  at  least  for  that 
period.  The  result  must  undoubtedly  be  an  in- 
crease of  wilful  murder,  and  of  insecurity  to  human 
life.  Revenge  and  passion  can  easily  borrow  the 
garb  of  somnambulism,  drunkenness,  or  insanity, 
and  the  deliberate  murderer,  or  the  burglar  or  the 
highway  robber  who  becomes  one,  under  these  ex- 
tenuations, or  others  of  equal  force,  may  serve  for 
a  short  term,  return  to  liberty  to  repeat  the  same 

*  Perhaps  we  must  now  except  California. 


272  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

lesson,  and  serve  a  second,  or  third  term  it  may  be, 
at  the  bench,  or  forge,  and  be  told  by  "  the  prisoner's 
friend,"  that,  as  there  is  no  hell  into  which  the 
wicked  are  to  be  turned  at  death,  he  suffers  his  pun- 
ishment for  crime  now,  by  eating  his  bread  "  in  the 
sweat  of  his  face,"  in  almost  the  same  manner  in 
which,  if  he  had  never  become  a  murderer,  he  would 
have  earned  a  lawful  living,  and  precisely  in  the 
same  manner  in  which  multitudes  of  Christian 
mechanics  "  provide  things  honest  in  the  sight  of 
all  men."  * 

It  is  true,  that  to  some  minds  the  associations 
connected  with  the  inner  walls  of  a  state  prison 
would  not  be  delightful ;  but  man  is  greatly  the 
creature  of  custom,  and  about  matters  of  taste 
human  opinions  are  very  varied. 

Prelacy,  then,  on  the  one  hand,  believes  too  much, 
and  is  liable  to  extend  capital  punishment  beyond 
its  legitimate  appointment ;  and  it  has  very,  very 
often  done  so ;  while  modern  Congregationalism, 
on  the  other  hand,  when  able  to  establish  "the  cus- 
tom,"  will  consider   it   "  sufficiently   divine,"    and 

*  The  State  of  Wisconsin  was  among  the  first  to  adopt  the  plan  of 
imprisonment  for  life  for  the  crime  of  murder.  The  mode  has  been 
tried,  and  the  result  is  unsatisfactory.  Attempts  are  now  making  to 
return  to  the  old  mode  of  punishment  by  death.  Success  will  not 
probably  crown  their  efforts  at  once,  but  that  this  will  be  the  final  re- 
sult we  cannot  doubt.  A  bill  has  passed  the  lower  house  to  modify 
the  law,  by  a  vote  of  thirty-six  to  twenty-seven,  making  the  penalty  of 
murder  death,  after  an  imprisonment  of  ten  years.  This,  to  us,  seems 
more  revolting  than  death  after  a  few  weeks  or  months'  interval  after 
sentence.  —  Erie  Gazette,  April,  1854. 


CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  273 

maintain  that  in  this  age  of  "  progress,"  "  whoso 
sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall "  not  "  his  blood 
be  shed."  Yet  where  justice  is  robbed  of  her  retrib- 
utive jurisdiction  over  the  murderer,  men  soon  cast 
off  the  fear  of  God,  and  are  eventually  encouraged 
for  some  paltry  consideration,  first  to  act  as  robbers, 
and  then,  for  personal  security,  to  imbrue  their 
hands  in  human  blood.  Thus  where  capital  punish- 
ment has  -been  set  aside,  a  number  of  men  may 
combine  to  murder  one  person,  and  if  in  this  case 
one  murderer  does  not  always,  or  often,  perpetrate 
the  crime  a  second  or  third  time,  (although  this  is 
not  impossible,)  yet  two,  three,  four,  or  five  may  be- 
come murderers  by  unitedly  taking  one  life.* 

On  this  mixed  question,  then,  in  which  the  teach- 
ings of  nature  are  confirmed  by  the  word  of  God, 
our  generic  divisions  have  each  a  distinct  and  char- 
acteristic influence. 


*  "Murder  will  out.  —  Three  out  of  five  of  the  murderers  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Easterbrook,  of  Reading,  Vermont,  the  gentleman  -who, 
it  will'  be  remembered,  left  that  place  in  December  last  for  St.  Joseph 
county,  Michigan,  where  he  was  engaged  to  marry  a  lady,  and  who 
never  reached  his  place  of  destination,  have  been  discovered,  and  are 
now  in  jail.  The  officers  are  now  searching  for  the  others.  Mr.  Easter- 
brook was  murdered,  and  robbed  in  a  wood  on  the  way  to  the  house  of 
his  betrothed  by  these  five  ruffians,  and  his  body  buried  under  a  tree. 
One  of  the  wretches,  while  under  arrest  on  a  charge  of  larceny,  con- 
fessed the  crime,  and  criminated  his  companions."  —  Boston  Joi&nal, 
July  28,  1854. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THEIR   RESPECTIVE  VIEWS  OF  WITNESS-BEARING 
AND   OATHS. 

"  A  lawful  oath  is  a  part  of  religious  worship, 
wherein,  upon  just  occasion,  the  person  swearing 
solemnly  calleth  God  to  witness  what  he  asserteth 
or  promiseth,  and  to  judge  him  according  to  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  what  he  sweareth.  The 
name  of  God  only  is  that  by  which  men  ought 
to  swear,  and  therein  it  is  to  be  used  with  all  holy 
fear  and  reverence." 

Such  is  the  Presbyterian  view  of  a  lawful  oath, 
which  "  for  confirmation  is,"  to  them,  "  an  end  of 
all  strife."  In  taking  it,  their  simple  scriptural  form 
is  the  uplifting  of  the  right  hand,  and  swearing  by 
the  living  God  "  in  truth,  in  judgment,  and  in 
righteousness." 

In  this  act  Protestant  Prelacy  interposes  the  lay- 
ing of  the  hand  of  the  juror  upon  the  sacred  vol- 
ume, kissing  of  the  Gospels,  or  the  Bible  which 
includes  them ;  and  Popery  adds  to  the  word  of 
God,  as  necessary  to  a  binding  oath,  that  the  juror 
depose  upon  the  picture  of  the  cross  officially 
consecrated.     To  this  she  superadds,  when  most 

(274) 


WITNESS-BEARING    AND    OATHS.  275 

conducive  to  her  interests,  a  mental  reservation ;  * 
and  her  pope  claims  the  right  and  authority  of  re- 
leasing subjects,  being  Papists,  at  his  pleasure  from 
allegiance  to  other  earthly  sovereigns.  Prelacy 
may  thus  vary  from  Presbyterianism  in  the  design, 
the  form,  and  in  the  binding  obligation  of  an  oath. 
Both,  however,  refer  the  person  about  to  be  sworn 
to  the  living  God,  and  to  vengeance  beyond  the 
grave. 

Among  some  sects  of  Congregationalists  a  diver- 


*  Hence  it  was  stated  by  Lord  Lyndhurst,  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
when  explaining  the  introduction  of  the  words  "  on  the  true  faith  of  a 
Christian  "  into  the  British  oath  of  abjuration,  that  "in  the  third  year 
of  James  I.,  search  was  made  in  the  chamber  of  Francis  Tresham,  one 
of  the  conspirators  in  the  gunpowder  plot,  in  which  was  found  a  manu- 
script entitled  a  '  Treatise  on  Equivocation,'  which  had  been  altered 
in  many  places  by  Garnett,  superior  of  the  Jesuits,  and  which  was 
marked  with  the  imjwimoiur  of  Blackhall,  at  that  time  archpriest. 
This  manuscript  was  made  use  of  on  the  trial  of  the  persons  connected 
with  the  plot.  The  object  of  the  treatise  is  to  show  how  the  obligation 
of  an  oath  may  be  avoided.  In  one  of  the  chapters  the  doctrine  is 
laid  down,  that  if  a  question  is  put  to  you  which  you  think  you  are  not 
in  conscience  bound  to  answer,  you  may  answer  the  question  with 
words  uttered  aloud,  but  at  the  same  time  qualify  those  words  with 
other  words  uttered  mentally,  which,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
words  uttered  aloud,  will  prevent  your  taking  a  false  oath.  Thus,  if  a 
magistrate,  say,  asks,  •  Were  you  in  London  at  such  a  time  ? '  you 
may  say  aloud,  '  I  was  not  in  London,'  and  swear  to  it,  but  at  the 
same  time  you  may  add  mentally,  '  Not  for  an  improper  purpose,'  which 
mental  reservation  will  save  you  from  a  false  oath.  It  is  remarkable, 
my  lords,  that  in  the  letters  of  Pascal  he  ascribes  to  the  Jesuits  pre- 
cisely the  species  of  equivocation  which  we  have  here  laid  down  as  a 
principle,  in  the  handwriting  of  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits.  It  was 
in  the  same  year  that  for  the  first  time  there  were  introduced  into  the 
oaths  the  words  '  without  equivocation,  mental  evasion,  or  secret  reser- 
vation whatsoever.'  "  —  See  London  Times,  June  1,  1853. 


276  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

sity  of  opinion  and  practice  exists  as  to  both  the 
necessity  of  an  oath  at  all,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  punishment  allotted  to  the  violation  of  it  upon 
the  other. 

While  the  Orthodox,  Eegular  Baptists,  and  many 
other  sects,  in  administering  an  oath,  employ  the 
same  forms  with  Presbyterians,  and  view  the  obliga- 
tion which  it  imposes  as  imperishable,  one  sect,  who 
eschew  both  a  bishop  and  a  presbytery,  deny  the 
legality  of  an  oath  altogether.  The  Friends  pro- 
fess under  all  circumstances  simply  to  affirm,  or  to 
let  their  "yea  be  yea"  and  their  "  nay  nay,"  sup- 
posing that  our  Lord  in  this  instruction  opposed  all 
lawful  as  well  as  all  profane  oaths.  By  conse- 
quence, they  must  be  viewed  as  at  all  times  under 
oath,  in  the  most  trivial  affairs  and  duties  of  life, 
and  the  least  deviation  from  truth,  then,  in  their 
case,  is  not  simply  a  lie,  but  perjury.  There  is, 
then,  one  sin  which  a  Friend  can  never  commit:  — 
he  can  never  lie  ;  and  to  one  part  of  "  the  lake  which 
burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone  "  (Rev.  xxi.  8)  none 
can  ever  go  from  the  feet  of  George  Fox  or  Elias 
Hicks. 

Another  species  under  this  generic  division,  in 
denying  the  perpetuity  of  future  punishment,  di- 
vests an  oath  of  its  vitality  as  a  motive  power  for 
the  declaration  of  truth,  when  surrounded  by  the 
meshes  of  interest.  In  judicial  proceedings,  with 
the  usual  form  they  may  readily  comply ;  yet  ban- 
ish hell,  and  the  idea  of  the  perpetuity  of  its  tor- 


WITNESS-BEARING    AND    OATHS.  277 

ments  to  the  perjured  person  from  the  engagement, 
and  all  the  Auburn s,  Charlestowns,  and  Sing  Sings 
in  America  will  not  bind  such  a  believer,  with  abso- 
lute certainty,  to  declare  "  the  truth,  the  whole  truth, 
and  nothing  but  the  truth  "  so  long  as  he  does  not 
"  fear  Him  who  can  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in 
hell." 

Another  tendency  of  many  of  the  elements  of 
Congregationalism,  or  believing  too  little  in  rela- 
tion to  the  word  of  God,  is  not  only  to  deny  that 
he  "  can  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell,"  but 
to  doubt  and  ultimately  to  deny  his  very  existence 
altogether.  Hence  practical  atheism,  that  is,  "  pro- 
fessing to  believe  in  God,  and  yet  acting  contrary 
to  this  belief,"  is  fearfully  common  and  increasing, 
while  speculative  atheism,  or  denying  the  being  of 
God,  is  not  unknown  among  some  of  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Puritans.  The  assertions  of  atheists  in 
evidence  have  been  hitherto  "  ruled  out "  and  disal- 
lowed by  the  bench,  both  in  the  national  and  state 
courts,  on  different  occasions ;  but  so  far  has  the 
fear  of  God  departed  from  a  portion  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  this  commonwealth,  that  the  Senate  of 
Massachusetts,  in  1852,  passed  a  bill,  as  an  amend- 
ment to  the  law  of  evidence,  allowing  the  testi- 
mony of  atheists,  which  was,  by  a  vote  of  ninety- 
five  to  seventy-four,  rejected  in  the  house.  In 
1853-4,  the  matter  was  pressed  with  pertinacity,  and 
among  the  petitions  in  its  favor  was  one  headed  by 
a  prominent  member  of .  the  Suffolk  bar. 
24 


278  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

"  Remove  God  once  out  of  heaven,  and  there 
will  never  be  any  gods  upon  the  earth;"  and  low  in- 
deed must  be  the  condition  of  society,  when  the 
testimony  of  him  who  feareth  God  and  regardeth 
an  oath,  is  placed  on  a  level  with  the  word  of  "  the 
fool,"  who  hath  said  in  his  heart,  "  There  is  no  God." 

These  illustrations,  which  might  be  much  ex- 
tended, will  afford  to  the  reader  proof,  that  on  this 
question  of  testimony  and  oaths  the  plastic  hand 
of  church  government  leaves  a  distinct  impression. 


CHAPTER    XXL 

A  SUMMARY  OF  COMPARATIVE  RELATIVE  INFLUENCES 
AND  TENDENCIES. 

In  confirmation  of  my  position,  I  might  have 
proceeded  to  a  further  detail,  by  the  application  of 
it  to  other  moral  and  social  subjects,  such  as  asso- 
ciations for  the  promotion  of  temperance,  and  have 
more  universally  applied  it  to  those  which  are 
strictly  religious.  But  I  trust  my  readers  will  now 
see  that,  account  for  it  as  they  will,  no  two  of  these 
three  radical  divisions  of  ecclesiastical  polity  re- 
ceive the  word  of  God  and  believe  it  precisely 
alike. 

The  supposition  has  been  entertained  that  our 
Creator  has  impressed  the  idea  of  a  trinity  upon 
all  his  works,  as  some  objects,  such  as  light,  are 
reducible  to  three,  and  only  to  three,  simple,  pri- 
mary, or  elementary  principles.  Whether  my  radi- 
cal idea  of  church  government  has  any  connection 
with  such  a  cause,  I  know  not;  yet  from  the  above 
three  specific  forms  and  their  compounds,  all  the 
sects  in  Christendom  (amounting  to  more  than  one 
hundred)  who  believe,  or  profess  to  believe,  the 
Bible,  are  formed. 

(279) 


280  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

In  studying  the  philosophy  of  sectarianism,  by 
tracing  effects  to  causes,  distinguishing  things  that 
differ,  and  classifying  those  sects  which  agree,  we 
thus  find  that  prelacy,  while  the  least  ramified,  not 
only  arose  with,*  but  has  had  an  uninterrupted 
existence  through,  "  the  dark  ages,"  a  covering  of 
her  own  spreading,  and  a  mantle  with  which,  if 
not  counteracted  by  the  other  forms,  it  is  very 
highly  probable  she  would  again  cover  the  face  of 
Christendom.  Various  ingredients  in  this  order  of 
polity  conspire  to  this  probability.  Under  it  the 
least  amount  of  cultivated  intellect  and  purified 
thought  is  required  among  the  masses  of  man- 
kind. The  absence  of  these  is  compensated  by  the 
bold  assumptions  and  pretensions  of  those  heaven- 
exalted  and  favored  races  of  men,  priests  and  em- 
perors, who  finding  that  "  ignorance  is "  (at  least 
oftentimes)  "  the  mother  of  devotion,"  and  that  the 
credulity  of  the  unlearned  is  frequently  very  great, 
lord    it    over    their    fellow-mortals.f       Under   this 


*  "  Hippolytus  and  his  Age,"  a  recently  discovered  treatise  of  the 
third  century,  represents  its  author  as  protesting  against  the  attempted 
usurpations  of  the  incipient  prelacy,  and  as  asserting  the  apostolicity 
of  Presbyterianism.  Hippolytus  appears  to  have  nourished  about 
A.  D.  225;  he  was  a  member  of  the  presbytery  of  Home,  and  exercised 
the  pastorate  within  a  few  miles  of  that  city.  Chevalier  Bunsen,  no 
friend  to  the  Presbyterian  polity,  makes  the  important  admission,  when 
expounding  the  views  of  the  author,  that  "  his  ecclesiastical  polity 
may  be  named  Presbyterian."  —  Hugh  Miller. 

f  Hence,  from  London,  on  February  17,  1854,  wrote  Nuncio  Bedini, 
who  had  once  "  governed  a  million  of  the  subjects  of  the  Pontifical 
States,"  "  I  will  not  retract  one  of  the  innumerable  benedictions  which  I 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  281 

division  it  is  "  like  priest,  like  people,"  emphatically. 
It  is  also  no  matter  of  astonishment  that  the  Papal 
church  should  claim  unity,  and  that  the  Oriental 
and  Anglican  should  so  closely  fraternize  with  her 
in  her  pretensions,  for  each  of  them  is  a  tree  from 
the  same  root,  and  founded  on  a  faith  broader  than 
the  word  of  God ;  a  faith  resting  on  the  statements 
of  "  early  writers  "  in  relation  to  "  genealogies  "  of 
popes,  "  which  minister  questions  rather  than  godly 
edifying." 

A  similar  faith,  destitute  of  scriptural  precision, 
also  underlies  Wesleyan  and  Episcopal  Methodism. 
Its  founder  (according  to  the  Rev.  Augustus  Top- 
lady)  received  the  thread  of  apostolic  succession 
at  Oxford  through  an  Anglican  prelate ;  and  to  his 
preachers  and  successors  he  not  only  left  his  whole 
power  of  ordination  and  of  rule,  thus  obtained, 
with  all  its  accumulated  interest,  for  about  forty 
years,  but  on  their  behalf  besought  an  Armenian 
bishop  "to  ordain  several  of  his  lay  preachers,  ac- 
cording to  the  manner  of  which  he  called  the  Greek 
church,  and  they  did  dress  and  officiate  as  clergy- 
men of  the  church  of  England  in  consequence  of 
that  ordination."  The  application  of  the  marline- 
have  scattered  on  the  land  of  Columbus  —  the  American  people  whom 
I  blessed  with  all  my  soul  in  their  institutions,  in  their  churches,  in 
their  sick,  and  in  their  young  children.  It  was  very  just  that  I  should 
call  the  attention  of  the  American  people  to  that  portentous  moving 
of  the  pupils  of  the  wonderful  picture  of  the  blessed  Virgin  of  Rimini 
which  took  place  during  my  civil  jurisdiction  over  the  government  of 
Bologna." 

24* 


282  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

spike,  by  that  "  Bishop  of  Arcadia,  Erasmus,"  to 
the  cord  of  the  founder  of  Methodism,  (previously 
amplified  by  no  inconsiderable  assumption,)  gave 
it  all  necessary  dimensions  to  fit  the  hawses  of  his 
new  ark.  He  consequently  could  cast  his  anchor 
into  the  very  Tiber,  and  in  his  own  estimation 
"  read  his  title  clear "  to  ecclesiastical  authority. 
As  a  result  or  fruit  of  his  ambition  combined 
with  his  power,  as  thus  by  himself  established,  the 
rulers  of  this  denomination  were,  in  England, 
in  1852,  charged  with  "the  virtual  setting  aside  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  and  the  substitution  of  human  authorities 
in  their  stead."  Human  authority,  then,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  shares  the  honor  due  alone  to  the 
word  of  God,  in  all  the  prelatic  portions  of  Chris- 
tendom. Dominion,  where  it  is  obtained,  whether 
civil  or  religious,  under  this  regimen,  must  be  of  a 
centralizing  and  consolidating  character,  and  can 
be  shared  only  by  a  few,  to  whom  the  many  are 
subservient.  None  but  a  bold,  daring  spirit  can 
break  its  force,  or  direct  it  into  new  channels.  Such 
were  Luther,  Ignatius  Loyola,  King  Henry  VIIL, 
John  Wesley,  and  Napoleon,  and  such  is  Louis 
Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

No  inconsiderable  proportion  of  the  wars  of 
Christendom  have  arisen  from  the  attempts  of  as- 
pirants to  obtain  this  power,  both  in  church  and 
state.  Of  it  all  the  pope  claims  sole  possession. 
The  largest   amount  of  rational  liberty,  social  en- 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  283 

joyment,  and  religious  improvement  cannot,  then, 
be  found  under  this  ecclesiastical  form  of  regimen, 
while  "  Cossack  "  is  the  significant  term  by  which 
the  comprehensive  mind  of  Napoleon  designated 
its  civil  influences  wherever  they  are  fully  felt,  and 
such  will  ever  be  its  native  tendencies.  When 
counteracted  in  civil  rule  by  the  equalizing  influ- 
ences of  presbytery  as  a  coefficient,  it  results  in  a 
limited  monarchy,  guarded  by  constitutional  pow- 
ers, and  forms  a  very  high  order  of  government. 
Not  only  has  this  form  of  ecclesiastical  regimen 
the  most  powerful  nfluence  in  Christendom,  but  it 
is  also  destined  largely  to  increase,  until  the  diffu- 
sion of  general  intelligence,  and  especially  of  "  sound 
doctrine/'  together  with  the  establishment  of  pres- 
byterial  rule  in  the  church  militant,  leaven  a  large 
proportion  of  the  millions  now  actually,  or  pro- 
spectively, under  its  influences  ;  and  those  imposing 
and  awe-producing  arrangements  in  religious  wor- 
ship, which  have  c;iven  to  it  vigorous  vitality,  are 
supplanted  by  the  simple,  scriptural  order  of  pure 
Presbyterianism. 

The  comparative  relative  influences  of  Presby- 
terianism have  as  yet,  in  modern  times,  had  but 
little  pure  religious  or  civil  illustration.  Established 
as  it  was  by  Emmanuel  after  the  order  of  the  syna- 
gogue, (Luke  iv.  15,  16,)  the  first  ministers  of  this 
denomination,  beginning  at  Jerusalem,  went  every 
where  from  that  city,  preaching  the  word,  authorita- 
tively and  officially  appointing  (when  by  their  own 


284  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


directions  looked  out  by  the  brethren)  deacons  or 
almoners  over  the  "  tables "  of  the  poor,  whose 
"  business  "  was  "  to  serve  tables  in  the  daily  minis- 
tration "  of  "carnal  things,"  ordaining  over  them, 
wherever  they  made  or  found  disciples,  elders  in 
every  city  and  in  every  church,  who  were  thus  made 
overseers  or  bishops  over  a  single  flock  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  separating  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  by 
the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery,  faith- 
ful men,  who  could  rightly  divide  the  word  of  truth, 
and  who  became  to  those  to  whom  they  were  sent 
the  savor  of  life  unto  life  or  of  death  unto  death ; 
and  from  time  to  time  referring  such  matters  of 
doctrine  and  discipline  as  a  presbytery  could  not 
settle  ( Acts  xv.)  by  representatives  from  the  churches 
where  difficulties  existed,  to  an  assembly  of  apostles 
and  other  elders,  constituted  as  a  supreme  judicial 
court,  who  sent  down  their  ordained  "  decrees  "  to 
all  the  presbyteries  and  churches,  to  be  by  them 
religiously  kept.  Thus  teaching  his  followers  "  to 
observe  all  things  whatsoever "  Christ  had  "com- 
manded by  his  apostles,"  the  other  elders  of  the 
churches  took  the  oversight  of  their  respective 
flocks  willingly,  met  in  a  scriptural  manner  errors 
in  doctrine,  government,  worship,  and  discipline, 
and  thus  taking  the  appointed  care  of  the  house 
of  God,  "  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  prospered  in 
their  hands." 

Then  were  the  golden  days  of  ministerial  effi- 
ciency, when  popes,  cardinals,  archbishops,  deans, 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  285 

and  archdeacons  were  unknown  as  lords  over  God's 
heritage,  when  each  single  church  had  a  plurality 
of  bishops,  (Acts  xx.  28,)  and  when  the  genius  of 
Congregationalism,  checked  by  the  apostle  in  the 
bud,  had  only  begun  to  say,  "  I  am  of  Paul,  and  I 
of  Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas,"  each  admiring  the 
man,  the  eloquent  or  the  beautiful  man.  Then  ec- 
clesiastics were  charged  with  "turning  the  world 
upside  down,*'  and  for  centuries  "  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  became  the  seed  of  the  church,"  until,  for- 
getful that  the  kingdom  of  her  Master  is  not  of  this 
world,  she  fell  asleep  on  the  lap  of  the  state,  and  was 
shorn  of  those  locks  under  which  her  supernatural 
strength  had  been  hitherto  concealed.  "  Lords  many" 
appeared,  and  the  scriptural  parity  of  her  ministry 
was  denied,  while  Peter  the  apostle,  who  declared 
in  "words  of  truth  and  soberness,"  that  he  was  an 
elder,  and  in  his  lifetime  exhorted  other  elders  to 
perform  their  duty,  was,  without  his  own  consent 
(being  either  asked  or  given)  eventually  canonized, 
and  in  his  name  his  imaginary  successors  at  Rome 
were  superstitiously  and  blasphemously  elevated,  by 
an  ample  faith,  to  the  post  of  vicars  apostolic  of 
God  on  earth. 

Then  in  due  time  Prelacy  had  "  her  perfect  work." 
"  The  church  "  prelatic  became  the  way  to  life  ever- 
lasting throughout  Christendom,  excepting  among 
the  faithful  Waldenses  ;  and  excepting  among  these 
witnesses  of  heaven,  this  "remnant  accordinsfto  the 
election  of   grace,"   Presbytery  had   her  oblivious 


286  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

sleep  during  the  night  of  "the  dark  ages."  To 
rescue  her  from  oblivion,  to  rake  her  from  the  dust, 
to  bless  the  church  militant  with  her  scriptural  order, 
and  to  cast  abroad  the  salt  of  life  for  the  civil  as 
well  as  spiritual  welfare  of  the  nations,  divine 
Providence  raised  up  Zwinglius,  Calvin,  their  as- 
sociates and  successors,  to  "  vindicate  the  ways  of 
God  to  man."  While  the  moral  courage  of  Luther 
became  proverbial,  and  will  ever  continue  to  be  so, 
none,  excepting  that  of  his  master,  is  bespattered 
with  more  ignominy  than  the  name  of  John  Cal- 
vin ;  who  steering  equally  clear  of  the  Chary bdis  of 
prelacy,  and  the  Scylla  of  the  social  compact,  has, 
in  "  words  of  truth,"  asserted,  "  Nobody  has  yet  ap- 
peared who  could  prove  that  we  have  altered  any 
one  thing  which  God  has  commanded,  or  that  we 
have  appointed  any  new  thing  contrary  to  his  word, 
or  that  we  have  turned  aside  from  the  truth  to  fol- 
low any  evil  opinion."  In  reference  to  the  influ- 
ences of  his  scriptural  doctrines  under  this  regimen 
on  civil  institutions,  an  eminent  historian  has  made 
the  statement,  that  "  to  no  man  since  the  days  of  the 
apostles  is  civil  liberty  more  indebted  than  to  John 
Calvin."  The  antiseptic  influences  of  "  a  Calvin- 
istic  creed  "  have  not  only  been  felt  in  preserving 
from  the  putrefaction  of  despotism  those  spots  of 
Europe  which  have  even  the  shadow  of  civil  liberty, 
but  on  it,  as  brought  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  North 
America,  was  founded  eventually  the  republic  of 
the  United  States. 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  287 

Upon  this  church  regimen,  drawn,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  Calvin  and  others  from  the  word  of  God,  the  civil 
government  of  most  of  the  separate  commonwealths 
was  eventually  founded ;  and  to  preserve  and  perpetu- 
ate the  august  fabric  which  unitedly  they  now  form, 
the  genius  and  purity  of  Presbyterianism  will  ever 
be  required.  On  the  diffusion  of  general  intelligence 
and  the  inculcation  of  scriptural  morality,  the  na- 
tional character  was  at  first  moulded,  and  any  devia- 
tions from  these,  either  by  a  return  to  prelacy  in  any  of 
its  forms,  or  to  modern  Congregationalism,  must  be  to 
it  proportionably  destructive.  Hence  these  opposite 
extremes  are  the  obvious  dangers  which  menace  the 
American  Union  and  the  enjoyment  of  perpetual 
religious  liberty  under  its  shadow.  As  all  abso- 
lutism in  the  state  reatuires  a  priesthood  resting 
solely  on  an  "  apostolical  succession,"  (and  hence  "  no 
bishop,  no  king,")  so  our  republic  must  always  suffer 
friction  in  every  department  of  its  operations  of  a 
purely  moral  character,  (such  as  the  epmloyment  of 
national  or  state  chaplains,)  and  even  in  those  of  its 
civil  legislatures,  judiciaries,  or  executive  trusts,  just 
as  these  offices  are  occupied,  more  or  less,  by  those 
who  have  a  faith  founded  directly  or  indirectly  upon 
the  monarch  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.*  Hence 
the  centralizing  tendency  of  Episcopalian  forms  in 

*  That  Montgomery,  Lafayette,  Pulaski,  DeKalb,  Steuben,  and 
others  were  under  this  spiritual  faith,  is  not  conclusive  proof  of  the 
error  of  my  position  that  the  religious  sentiment  will  rule  the  civil. 
They  are  only  exceptions. 


288  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

prayer  and  other  religious  exercises  in  our  army  and 
navy,  although  quite  in  keeping  with  the  existence 
of  those  necessary  evils,  will,  just  so  far  as  their 
power  is  felt,  cherish  a  feeling  in  those  who  engage 
in  them,  and  those  who  are  pleased  with  them, 
hostile  to  republican  simplicity.  So  distinctly  has 
the  tendency  to  prelatic  forms  in  our  governmental 
chaplainships  been  felt,  that  the  leading  branch  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  Union  has  adopted 
the  anti-republic  and  doubtful  expediency  of  select- 
ing and  publishing  a  compilation  of  prayers  for  the 
use  of  chaplains  in  the  army  or  navy,  by  way  of 
competition  with  Episcopacy. 

The  tendency  and  influence  of  modern  Congre- 
gationalism upon  our  civil  and  religious  liberty  are 
not  at  all  of  a  healthful  character.  A  progressive 
democracy  in  the  state,  whatever  may  be  its  atti- 
tude to  availability  and  expediency  among  politi- 
cians, will  proportionably  manifest  a  tendency  to 
exclude  prayer  and  religious  instruction  from  legis- 
lation and  government,  and  to  level  to  the  dust  of 
anarchy  genuine  liberty.  Hence  those  varied  sec- 
tarian divisions  under  that  form  of  ecclesiastical 
regimen  (which  is  built  upon  the  faith  that  the  hand 
of  Providence  may  render  a  custom  "  sufficiently 
divine  ")  must  exercise  a  false  charity,  which  em- 
braces error  and  truth  alike,  have  a  destructive 
tendency,  in  a  direction  opposite  to  prelacy ;  and 
as  their  influences  are  extended,  prayer  for  the 
blessing  of  "  the  God  of  all  grace  "  upon  legislation 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  289 

or  government  will  be  deemed  less  indispensable. 
From  this  source  arises  the  danger  of  neology, 
rationalism,  and  succeeding  kindred  affinities  of 
doctrinal  errors,  as  they  would  prevent  the  employ- 
ment of  evangelical  chaplains  in  our  halls  of  legis- 
lation, by  the  cry  of  "  priestcraft,"  "  church  and 
state,"  &c. 

For  our  national  domain,  two  opposite  influences 
are  thus  in  contest  —  superstition  and  insubordina- 
tion ;  the  one  desirous  to  subordinate  our  energies, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  nations  of  Southern 
Europe  are,  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  who  blasphe- 
mously claims  the  right  to  say,  "  By  me  kings 
(ought  to)  reign,  and  princes  decree  justice,  even  all 
the  nobles  of  the  earth ; "  the  other,  enraged  at  the 
aid  afforded  to  Christianity  by  the  state,  as  "  the 
earth  "  is  made  to  "  help  the  woman,"  by  allowing 
to  all  "  freedom  to  worship  God,"  would  trample 
our  liberties,  civil  and  religious,  in  the  mire  of  licen- 
tiousness. Consequently,  let  either  of  these  have 
the  power  of  control,  and  the  civil  and  religious 
liberty  of  the  United  States  will  exist  only  in  his- 
tory. Preservation  from  either  extreme  can  be 
found  alone  in  Presbyterianism,  and  so  soon  as  it 
is  overborne  by  either  of  them,  or  by  them  both 
combined,  the  experiment  of  self-government,  now 
so  long,  so  largely,  and  so  happily  made  by  this 
nation,  will  be  a  perfect  failure.  Anarchy,  martial 
law,  and  perhaps  afterwards  a  limited  monarchy, 
will  ensue  on  the  one  hand,  or  absolutism  will 
25 


290  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

concentrate  unlimited  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
usurper,  on  the  other.* 

In  connection,  then,  with  the  philosophy  of  secta- 
rianism, the  tendency  of  each  specific  form  of  govern- 
ment, on  all  matters  of  public  weal  or  woe,  civil  and 
religious,  is  a  subject  of  interesting  study  to  every 
true  philanthropist.  As  the  influences  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  were  unknown  for  nearly  a  century  in  these 
colonies,  after  both  the  other  forms  had  begun  to 
exert  their  energies  in  forming  social  welfare,  so, 
if  this  regimen  had  never  been  forced  across  the 
Atlantic,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  a  numer- 
ous group  of  colonies  would  have  continued  to 
yield  homage  to  regal  authority,  either  remote  or 
local.  By  those,  then,  who  suppose  that  the  exist- 
ence and  influences  of  republicanism  on  this  conti- 
nent have  been,  or  may  yet  be,  of  any  advantage 
to  our  race,  Presbyterianism  can  never  be  despised, 
neither  in  its  recorded  history,  its  present  realities, 
nor  its  future  mission.  This  consideration  applies 
with  equal  force  to  the  early  Congregationalism  of 
New  England,  so  far  as  it  adopted  the  presbyterial 
order  of  church  government. 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  seen  this  statement  of  General 
Cass:  "Independent  of  its  connection  with  human  destiny  hereafter, 
I  believe  the  fate  of  republican  governments  is  indissolubly  bound  up 
with  the  fate  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  that  a  people  who  repel  its 
holy  faith  will  find  themselves  the  slaves  of  their  own  evil  passions  and 
of  arbitrary  power.'"  If  this  be  true  of  our  holy  religion  generally,  in 
its  three  different  forms,  it  is  preeminently  correct  of  true  Presbyte- 
rianism, without  which  it  is  doubtful  whether  pure  republicanism  could 
long  advantageously  exist. 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  291 

Between  the  ecclesiastical  order  of  "  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers "  and  the  progressive  Congregationalism 
of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  chasm 
of  no  inconsiderable  extent  exists.  The  modern 
order,  we  have  seen,  makes  no  provision  for  honor- 
ing "  the  faces  of  the  elders,"  and  makes  the  voice 
of  the  people,  or,  at  least,  of  the  members  of  the 
church,  or,  again,  if  this  be  objected  to,  at  least  of 
the  male  members  of  the  church,  jure  divino,  the 
will  and  authority  of  God  in  their  churches.  Not 
so,  in  either  shape,  the  order  established  by  those 
officiating  in  religious  matters  among  the  one  hun- 
dred and  one  passengers  of  the  Mayflower,  adopted 
December  31,  1620. 

"  Rule  III.  of  Church  Government,  Section  6. 
—  That  the  officers  appointed  by  Christ  for  this 
imbodied  church  are,  in  some  respects,  of  three  sorts ; 
in  others  but  two,  viz. :  1.  Pastors,  or  teaching 
elders,  who  have  the  power  both  of  overseeing, 
teaching,  administering  the  sacraments,  and  ruling 
too,  and  being  chiefly  to  give  themselves  to  study- 
ing, teaching,  and  the  spiritual  care  of  the  flock, 
are,  therefore,  to  be  maintained.  2.  Mere  ruling 
elders,  who"  are  to  help  the  pastor  in  overseeing 
and  ruling ;  that  their  offices  be  not  temporary,  as 
among  the  Dutch  and  French  churches,  but  con- 
tinual. Ajid  being  also  qualified  in  some  degree 
to  teach,  they  are  to  teach  only  occasionally,  through 
necessity,  or  in  the  pastor's  absence  or  illness;  but 
being  not  to  give  themselves  to  study  or  teaching, 


292  PHILOSOPHY    OP    SECTARIANISM. 

they  have  no  need  of  maintenance.  That  the  elders 
of  both  sorts  form  the  presbytery  of  overseers  and 
rulers  which  should  be  in-  every  particular  church, 
and  are  in  Scripture  sometimes  called  presbyters 
or  elders,  sometimes  bishops  or  overseers,  sometimes 
guides,  and  sometimes  rulers.  3.  Deacons,  who 
are  to  take  care  of  the  poor,  and  of  the  church's 
treasure  ;  to  distribute  for  the  support  of  the  pastor, 
the  supply  of  the  needy,  the  propagation  of  re- 
ligion, and  to  minister  at  the  Lord's  table."  * 

In  this,  so  far  as  it  extends,  we  find  pure  Presby- 
terianism,  defective  only  in  two  essentials,  that  of 
supplanting  the  ■  ministrations  of  the  ruling  elders 
at  the  Lord's  table  by  the  inferior  order  of  deacons, 
who  in  this  arrangement  are  thrust  into  the  office 
of  their  superiors,  and  in  consequence  of  which,  as 
the  elders  were  thus  shorn  of  their  most  solemn 
official  duty  and  honor, f  the  office  was  eventually, 
by  the  same  intrusion,  totally  superseded  in  New 
England.  This  otherwise  scriptural  order  of  gov- 
ernment was  also  defective  from  its  isolated  position, 
having  no  court  of  review,  appeal,  or  of  final  de- 
cision, nothing  beyond  mere  advice.  It  conse- 
quently bore  within  itself  the  seeds  of  dissolution, 
the  germinating  of  which  caused  Jonathan  Edwards 

*  Prince's  New  England  Chronology,  p.  92,  Vol.  I. 

f  Said  the  chivalrous  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  upon  his  death  bed,  "  I 
have  been  successful  in  the  battles  of  my  country,  but  I  esteem  it  as 
an  honor  above  all  my  victories,  that  as  a  ruling  elder  I  have  been 
permitted  to  distribute  the  sacramental  elements  to  my  fellow-Chris- 
tians at  the  Lord's  table." 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  293 

to  declare,  "  I  have  long  been  perfectly  out  of  con- 
ceit of  our  unsettled,  independent,  confused  way 
of  church  government  in  this  land."  Being,  how- 
ever, so  very  extensively  scriptural  in  its  arrange- 
ments, this  order,  adopted  by  "  the  Pilgrim  Fathers," 
had  a  powerful  conservative  and  subordinating  in- 
fluence on  the  early  formation  of  society  in  New 
England. 

Within  the  last  half  century,  the  influences  of 
modern  Congregationalism  in  an  opposite  direction 
have  been  greatly  increased,  when  we  make  a  col- 
lective estimate  of  the  progress  of  the  diversified 
sects  under  its  banner.  By  the  press  its  "  schemes" 
of  doctrine  have  been  widely  diffused,  and  over 
this  powerful  agency  this  regimen  has  an  increasing 
influence,  much  more  effective  in  scattering  u  divers 
and  strange  doctrines  "  than  any  other  of  its  efficien- 
cies. Hence,  when  a  work  subservient  to  any  of 
its  peculiarities,  but  especially  to  the  promotion  of 
its  own  specific  interests,  appears,  it  is  lauded  by 
much  of  the  press  from  Eastport  to  the  Golden 
Gate.  A  close  survey  of  the  history  and  character  of 
these  ever-ready  heralds  will  usually  show  that  they 
have  a  modern  Xew  England  origin,  and  that  they 
are   promoting  a  common  interest.*      Having  the 

*  Thus  we  see  that  the  Xew  York  Independent  puffed  upon  "  hear- 
say "  the  pollutions  which  Robinson  had  gleaned  at  the  Five  Points. 
These  had  been  written  by  a  friendly  editor  of  kindred  origin,  and  he 
was  thus  aided  in  increasing  his  wealth.  "  We  knew  that  wise  and 
good  people  were  pleased  with  the  Tribune  stories."  — Xtic'  York  In- 
dependent, February  16,  1854. 

25* 


294  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

influences  of  all  hymnology,  that  of  the  press  to  a 
great  extent,  and  a  large  share  of  the  other  appli- 
ances of  the  age,  under  her  direction,  orthodox  Con- 
gregationalism has  now  swept  loose  from  her  em- 
brace of  Presbyterianism,  which  she  had  held  since 
1801.  When  what  is  now  "the  New  School" 
General  Assembly  was,  in  1837,  exscinded  by  the 
Old  School  one,  her  Rev.  Drs.  Beechers,  Pattons, 
Lansings,  and  Cleavelands  exposed  themselves  for 
"constitutional"  Presbyterianism  on  "the  high 
places  of  the  field;"  but  in  1852  we  find  them  at 
Albany,  associated  by  their  affinities  in  a  general 
defence  of  modern  Congregationalism.  That  single 
assembly,  denominated  "  a  convention,"  bore  strong 
testimony  to  the  inefficiency  of  isolated  groups 
under  "  the  social  compact,"  and  to  the  necessity 
of  presbyterial  action  by  representation  in  all  eccle- 
siastical matters,  as  the  dictate  both  of  reason  and 
of  revelation.  Just  as  Congregationalists  abandon 
the  separate  action  of  single  sovereign  churches 
for  consociations,  or  are  governed,  led,  directed, 
advised  (call  it  what  you  please)  by  resolutions 
of  their  ministers  and  experienced  church  members, 
so  they  proclaim  that  their  ecclesiastical  order,  being, 
as  to  both  its  "  customs  "  and  "  principles,"  but  a  hu- 
man expedient,  is  inefficient  as  well  as  unscriptural. 
The  tendency  of  tbis  radical  division  is  to  a 
multiplied  diversity.  Hence,  in  surveying  it,  we 
are  not  to  imagine  that  it  is  wholly  limited  to  the 
Orthodox  and  to  the  varied  sects  of  Baptists.    Other 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  295 

sects,  of  no  inconsiderable  magnitude,  have  grown 
from  the  root  of  modern  Congregationalism 

In  1770,  the  Rev.  John  Murray  first  preached  in  New 
York ;  but  finding  it  an  ungenial  soil  at  that  time  for 
Congregational  church  government,  and  especially 
for  his  type  of  it,  he  preached  his  first  sermon  in 
Boston  on  the  30th  of  October,  1783.  Here,  not  only 
were  his  labors  successful,  but  he  was  in  due  time 
succeeded  by  the  Chalmers  of  Universalism,  Hosea 
Ballou.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Baptist  clergyman 
in  New  Hampshire,  and  for  a  time  a  member  of  his 
father's  church ;  but  impelled  by  that  mental  insta- 
bility which  this  regimen  promotes,  and  believing 
less  than  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  he  eventually 
became  a  Universalist.  In  1791  he  became  a 
preacher.  At  Rutland,  Vermont,  in  June,  1805,  in 
his  presence,  the  error  of  his  leading  doctrine  was 
most  unsparingly  demolished  by  the  Rev.  Lemuel 
Haynes,  in  a  sermon  from  Genesis  iii.  4.  Still  he 
fulfilled  his  mission.  For  fifty  years  the  "  imita- 
tions" of  Dr.  Watts  had  familiarized  the  minds  of 
Congregationalists  in  America  with  his  doctrine  that 

Christ  came  "  to  make  his  blessings  flow, 
Far  as  the  curse  is  found  ;  "  (Ps.  xcviii.  13.) 

and  Mr.  Ballou,  on  coming  to  Boston,  in  1817, 
thrust  in  his  sickle,  and  speedily  gathered  an  abun- 
dant harvest.  As  the  Puritan  city  has  been  called 
"  the  Mount  Zion  of  the  whole  earth,"  so  her  wor- 
shippers carry  her  doctrines  to  remote  and  distant 


296  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

places,  as  well  as  throughout  New  England.  Con- 
sequently, says  his  eulogist,  "  When  Mr.  Ballou 
commenced  his  career,  his  denomination  was  in  its 
infancy,  and  had  a  mere  handful  of  men.  When 
he  died,  in  June,  1852,  there  were  nineteen  annual 
state  conventions,  one  thousand  and  seventy  socie- 
ties, and  six  hundred  and  twelve  preachers." 

From  the  same  root  Unitarianism,  in  1785,  blos- 
somed in  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  when  Mr.  Free- 
man received  a  popular  ordination  from  and  by  the 
vestry,  wardens,  and  people  of  his  parish.  It  now 
numbers  in  Massachusetts  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty-two  preachers,  has  for  years  controlled  the 
prominent  state  university,  and  possesses,  proba- 
bly, two  fifths  of  the  wealth  and  intelligence  of  the 
New  England  metropolis.  It  has  produced  various 
proficients  in  the  fine  arts,  and  the  denomination 
has  been  adorned  with  the  eloquence  of  a  Chan- 
ning. 

We  have  seen  that  at  least  twenty-nine  out  of 
the  forty-one  sects  in  "  the  Eeserve "  are  the  off- 
spring of  Congregationalism;  and  although  all  "the 
Orthodox  "  in  the  east,  and  in  that  "  New  England 
of  the  west,"  appear  to  have  been  harmoniously  rep- 
resented at  Albany,  in  1852,  yet  as  powerfully  con- 
flicting views  in,  at  least,  as  violent  a  tone  of  opposi- 
tion, as  if  all  church  power  were  (according  to  their 
ideas)  lodged  without  the  church,  and  in  church  offi- 
cers alone,  (as  it  is  among  Presbyterians  and  Epis- 
copalians,) have^been  held,  at  times,  in  relation  to 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  297 

their  ".  schemes  "  and  peculiar  dogmas.*  The  Chris- 
tian Observatory  of  Boston,  for  August,  1847,  shows 
that  "  the  things  which  make  for  peace  "  are  not. 
more  largely  found  where  every  church  does  "  what 
is  right  in  her  own  eyes  "  than  where  churches  are 
under  the  supposed  bondage  of  presbyteries,  and 
that  neither  does  "  brotherly  love  "  more  cordially 
prevail  in  all  quarters  of  the  social  compact  than 
under  the  other  forms  of  rule.  In  the  above-named 
periodical,  and  at  that  date,  we  find  the  Oberlin 
Quarterly  Review,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mahan 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Finney,  thus  hit  off:  "  In  the 
May  number  (of  that  year,  they  publish)  an  article 
entitled  '  Authority  a  Prerogative  of  the  Minis- 
terial Office.'  It  is  a  rough  piece  of  work,  written 
against  demagogues,  agrarians,  socialists,  and  level- 
lers in  church  and  state.  Against  these  it  stiffly 
maintains  the  prerogative  of  the  ministry,  asserting 
'  that  the  pastor  stands  in  Christ's  stead  to  the 
flock,  and  hence  occupies  a  position  of  authority,' 
and  that  he  is  '  the  servant  of  God,  and  not  the 
servant  of  the  people.'     '  We  urge  our  doctrines,' 


*  Following  their  example,  we  find  the  Presbyterian  doctors  of  New 
Albany  and  Danville,  in  1853-4,  waging  an  unholy  and  disgraceful  war, 
so  that  we  would  gladly  say,  "  Tell  it  not  in  Gath  ;  "  yet  it  forms  one 
of  "  the  signs  of  the  times,"  indicative  of  not  only  an  unhallowed  cen- 
tralization of  ecclesiastical  power  around  chartered  corporations  for 
literary  or  theological  purposes,  hostile  to,  if  not  destructive  of,  pres- 
byterial  parity,  and  before  which  sometimes  even  good  men  quail,  but 
also  an  evidence  that  the  sternness  of  Presbyterian  discipline  has  been 
neglected  on  account  of,  cr  overborne,  by  social  position. 


298  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

he  says,  '  as  a  check  to  error,  a  bridle  to  fanaticism, 
and  an  obstacle  to  religious  anarchy.' "  "  We  have 
long  made  it,"  says  the  Observatory,  "  a  point  not  to 
be  astonished  at  any  monsters  generated  by  the  rich 
mud  of  Oberlin,  or  we  might  have  been  a  little  sur- 
prised to  see  the  doctrine  of  a  priestly  domina- 
tion starting  out  of  it,  like  the  frogs  which  Herodo- 
tus describes  as  produced  by  the  prolific  slime  of 
the  Nile,  the  upper  half  pawing  and  croaking, 
while  the  nether  portion  is  still  in  the  miry  state. 
But  as  Oberlin  has  been  a  hotbed  for  spawning 
out  so  many  frogs  of  fanaticism,  it  is  about  right 
that  it  should  hatch  out,  at  least,  one  crocodile  to 
devour  them  again.  On  the  whole,  it  is  not  so  very 
strange  that  they  who  have  waked  the  tempest  of 
anarchy  should  seek  shelter  from  their  own  whirl- 
winds in  the  dead  calm  of  ecclesiastical  despotism." 
Here  one  of  the  phases  of  Congregationalism,  as 
says  the  Observatory,  "  comes  out  at  the  opposite 
extreme."  This  is  not  only  a  dash  at  the  Quarterly, 
but  also  a  not  unfrequent  occurrence,  which  is  an 
evidence  of  the  mental  instability  produced  by  this 
order  of  ecclesiastical  rule.  Consequently  we  have, 
among  many  others,  a  Mr.  Brownson,  who  has  walked 
through  dry  places  under  the  compact  theory,* 
seeking  rest,  but  finding  none,  at  last  ensconcing 
himself  in  the  lap  of  "  Holy  Mother,"  and  laboring 

*  "  Stand  from  under.  —  The  Puritan  Recorder  alludes  to  a  well- 
known  theological  writer  in  this  vicinity  as  •  that  Calvinistic,  Unitarian, 
Infidel,  Catholic  Brownson.'  "  —  Popish  paper. 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  299 

to  persuade  all  men  that  her  mercies  of  rack,  of 
sword,  and  fagot,  are  most  tender,  and  devoutly  to 
be  embraced  by  all  human  kind.  Again  we  see  the 
same  truth  illustrated  by  Mr.  Bakewell,  editor  of 
the  Shepherd  of  the  Valley,  at  St.  Louis,  who 
was  first  a  Unitarian,  secondly  an  Episcopalian, 
and  thirdly  a  Romanist,  who  has  announced  to  his 
readers  (says  the  New  York  Observer  of  December 
2, 1852)  the  discovery  that  "  the  Bible,  or  Protestant 
religion,  neither  clearly  teaches  who  God  is,  nor 
what  he  commands." 

To  omit  mentioning  various  other  illustrations 
of  this  truth,  such  as  Mr.  Capen,  late  of  the  Pacific 
Baptist  Banner;  the  present  editor  of  the  Freeman's 
Journal,  (Mr.  McM.,)  by  abandoning  the  Presbyte- 
rian instructions  enjoyed  under  a  psalm-singing 
parental  roof  for  the  varied  fields  of  human  poetry, 
as  the  matter  of  praise  to  God,  discovered  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Watts,  explored  by  Joel  Barlow,  Esq.,  cul- 
tivated by  the  Rev.  Dr.  D wight,  and  decorated  by 
various  renowned  sentimentalists  among  modern 
Congregationalists  and  hymn-singing  Presbyterians, 
entered  the  field  of  prelacy,  took  his  direct  march 
for  Rome,  and  serves  her  interests  by  a  zeal  against 
"  heretics  "  which  would  not  disgrace  Loyola  him- 
self. 

Thus  the  tendencies  of  the  age  proceed  from  a 
more  to  a  less  pure  and  severe  order  of  doctrine 
and  discipline,  to  a  formal  ritual,  to  worldly  and 
fashionable  worship,  calculated  to  impress  with  awe 


300  PHILOSOPHY    OP    SECTARIANISM. 

the  Listener,  and  to  afford  to  the  critic  an  appropri- 
ate field.  Let  the  observer,  whose  recollection  can 
retrace  the  last  thirty  years,  look  at  this  subject,  and 
he  will  see  that  while  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth 
is  now  diffused  more  widely  than  in  previous  mod- 
ern times  throughout  the  earth,  it  has  been  much 
diluted,  and  that  its  salutary  influences  are  less 
clearly  seen  and  less  powerfully  felt  than  they  were 
at  that  period  where  it  was  then  known.  The 
tendencies  of  our  age  and  times  are  to  the  two 
extremes  — to  a  superabundant  or  to  a  defective 
faith,  to  prelacy  or  to  Congregationalism  in  the 
church  visible,  and  to  "  Cossack"  or  red  republican- 
ism in  the  state. 

Papal  prelacy  drops  none  of  the  drapery  which 
her  abundant  faith  has  ever  woven  and  prepared 
for  her  personal  use,  where  she  can  wear  it  with 
impunity ;  and  in  this  land,  where  she  has  liberty 
of  conscience,  (an  enjoyment  which  she  has  very 
seldom,  if  ever,  granted  to  others,)  she  does  not 
hesitate  through  modesty  to  possess  her  full  privi- 
lege. Protestant  Episcopacy  looks  also  with  yearn- 
ing to  that  provincial  supremacy  which  she  once 
lost.  Hence,  to  chaplaincies  in  the  national  navy 
and  army,  she  is  not  slow  to  press  the  claims  of 
her  ritual.  Evidences  not  a  few  are  offered  by 
Papal  editors  (who,  we  may  reasonably  suppose, 
speak  ex  cathedra)  to  show  that  our  national  liber- 
ties can  be  safe  and  prosperous  only  in  the  embrace 
and  keeping  of  "  Holy  Mother,"  while  her  hierarchy, 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY;  301 

who,  it  would  seem,  suppose  that  Ignorance  is  the 
mother  of  Devotion,  make,  in  many  of  our  cities, 
one  apparently  concerted  attack  upon  our  public 
schools,  which,  in  opposition  to  their  wishes,  sub- 
serve the  diffusion  of  general  knowledge.     As 

"  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before," 

so  those  who  can  read  her  character  have  only  to 
look  down  the  vista  of  time  until  the  day  when  she 
has  the  ability,  to  see  the  tragedy  of  her  St.  Bar- 
tholomew in  France  performed  to  the  letter,  from  the 
Rio  Grande  to  the  Falls  of  Montmorenci.  Towards 
the  possessor  of  "  the  fisherman's  ring,"  Puseyism 
makes  steadfast  and  certain  progress,  while  the 
more  modest  forms  of  prelacy,  instead  of  a  wider 
departure  from  Papal  peculiarities,  give,  in  some 
cases,  symptoms  of  approach  to  that  gentleman. 

Into  these  ranks,  again,  turn  many  nominal  Pres- 
byterians who  have  a  faith  growing  more  ample 
than  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  and  to  whom  a 
stereotyped  book  of  forms  and  ceremonies,  decreed 
by  "  the  church,"  becomes  more  attractive  than  the 
ever-fluctuating  pabulum  of  human  hymns.  A 
Presbyterian  who  conscientiously  adheres  to  the 
Psalms  as  the  only  matter  of  praise  to  God,  can 
with  difficulty  descend  to  Prelacy,  and  never  sink 
to  Popery.  But  when  it  becomes,  to  those  who 
have  been  such,  a  matter  of  little  moment  whether, 
instead  of  the  appointed  songs  of  Jehovah,  the 
poetical  effusions  of  uninspired  men  (which  can  be 
26 


302  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

adopted  only  by  the  leading  ingredient  of  Popery, 
viz.,  will  worship)  are  used,  to  them,  then  on  the 
confines  of  Congregationalism,  the  peculiarities  of 
Presbyterianism  cease  to  be  attractive,  and  towards 
the  enjoyment  of  prelatic  honors  the  inclination  is 
not  then  diminished.  From  the  same  field  in 
which  a  too  limited  faith  forms  the  prominent  in- 
gredient, men  may  run  to  the  opposite  extreme,  as 
we  have  seen  by  the  charge  brought  by  the  Chris- 
tain  Observatory  against  the  doctors  of  Oberlin. 
Hence,  by  Congregationalists,  the  use  of  organs 
and  other  Popish  peculiarities  is  demanding  the 
sanction  of  "  the  customs  of  the  churches,"  and  as 
has  been  shown,  for  what  maybe  wanting  to  render 
their  introduction  "  sufficiently  divine,"  ample  com- 
pensation may  be  found  in  their  efficiency  to  regu- 
late that  "  most  troublesome  of  all  classes  of  func- 
tionaries "  (which  also  owes  its  origin  to  Popery) 
—  a  choir.  Having  become  enamoured  of  this  in- 
strument, those  who  progressively  reject  Christ  as 
a  Savior,  and  afterwards  as  an  assistant  Savior,  and 
who  eventually  view  him  as  a  mere  pattern  for  im- 
itation, or  "  a  preeminent  pattern  of  human  perfec- 
tion," at  least,  sometimes,  by  turning  Papists,  direct 
their  worship  to  the  mother  of  our  Lord.  Ex- 
tremes, then,  meet,  so  that  those  who  once  nomi- 
nally worshipped  the  Son,  now,  in  reality,  worship 
the  mother.  Still  the  great  tendency  of  the  Con- 
gregationalism of  our  ni^e  is  to  Arminianism,  Semi- 
Pelagianism,  Pelagianism,  Universalism,  Socinian- 


A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  303 

ism,  Rationalism,  Transcendentalism,  and  avowed 
infidelity  in  religion,  (or  rather  irreligion,)  and  to 
"  manifest  destiny,"  where  it  is  not  suitably  counter- 
acted in  the  state.  Hence  says  the  venerable  and 
Rev.  Dr.  Dana,  after  occupying  for  forty-five  years 
a  seat  at  their  board,  to  the  trustees  of  the  Phillips 
Academy,  Andover,  Massachusetts,  "  Will  it  be 
denied,  my  brethren,  that  in  our  own  New  England 
it  has  become  common  for  members  of  churches 
called  Orthodox  to  manifest  disgust  at  hearing 
from  the  desk  the  very  doctrines  which  they  once 
professed  solemnly  to  believe  ?  Will  it  be  denied 
that  unbelief  is  the  grand  and  fatal  malady  of  'the 
day?  The  distinguishing  doctrines,  and  the  very 
inspiration  of  the  Bible  are  vanishing  from  the 
minds  of  men,  and  a  real,  though  disguised,  infi- 
delity is  occupying  their  places." 

While  we  have  here  "  a  bird's  eye  view  "  of  its 
influences  on  doctrine,  we  have  its  tendency  and 
relative  influence  on  a  vital  part  of  divine  worship 
thus  stated  by  another  of  New  England's  own 
sons,  Mr.  Asa  Fitz,  author  of  the  Parlor  Harp: 
"  By  choir  singing  for  religious  purposes,  the  house 
of  the  living  God,  with  all  its  hallowed  associa- 
tions, has  been  changed  to  a  place  of  godless  fash- 
ion and  heartless  mummery.  The  spirit  of  '  the 
sweet  singer  of  Israel'  has  departed  from  our 
churches,  while  the  simple  and  pure  worship  of  our 
fathers  has  degenerated  into  the  soulless  perform- 
ance of  wood,  brass,  and  iron."' 


304  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

But  view  the  tendencies  of  the  present  age,  thus 
veering  to  these  extremes,  from  what  stand-point 
we  please,  we  find  this  view  of  them  verified  and 
correct.  Even  those  parts  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  which  professedly  retain  the  doctrine,  wor- 
ship, and  discipline  of  their  fathers,  are  familiarizing 
their  youth  with  the  green  (because  unscriptural) 
fields  of  Congregationalism  and  Prelacy.  Hence, 
while  their  sons  and  daughters  might  be  trained  in 
seminaries  and  colleges  under  Presbyterian  regimen 
and  culture,  where  their  associations  might  be 
healthful,  and  where  parental  vows  might  be  duly 
performed,  they  are,  at  least  often,  exposed,  in  the 
forming  period  of  life  and  character,  to  influences 
of  an  opposite  nature,  not  the  less  real  because  con- 
cealed by  the  unction  of  sectarian  flattery. 

Fashion,  and  the  opinions  of  lively,  fickle  asso- 
ciates, who  manifest  their  own  self-importance  by 
trumpeting  the  superiority  of  some  showy  academy, 
and  not  the  prayerful,  deliberate  inquiry  of  parents 
professing  godliness,  too  often  select  their  place  of 
instruction.  Consequently,  so  far  as  the  religious 
peculiarities  of  the  parents  are  concerned,  they  are 
soon  laughed  to  scorn,  as  pertaining  to  "the  blue 
laws  "  and  bigotry  of  former  days,  while  they  not 
unfrequently  become  champions  of  the  very  errors 
which*  their  parents  were  religiously  taught  to  dread. 
In  this  way  the  solemn  baptismal  obligation,  so  far 
from  being  faithfully  performed  in  the  religious  de- 
partment of  education,  is  too    often    disregarded, 


I  A    COMPARATIVE    SUMMARY.  305 

while  the  fashionable  conformity  of  the  youthful 
mind  to  those  associates  who  laugh  at  unfulfilled 
parental  vows  (differing  but  little  from  parental 
perjury)  compensates  for  all  the  remonstrances  of 
pastors,  the  convictions  of  conscience,  and  disregard 
of  the  authority  of  God.  There  are  things  which 
differ  —  let  us  distinguish  them  ;  things  which  are 
excellent  —  let  us  approve  them.  Each  form  of 
church  government  has  its  comparative  relative  in- 
fluences a^d  tendencies.  Reader,  has  it  not? 
26* 


DEDUCTIONS. 

I.  That  Presbyterianism  is  the  scriptural  form 
of  church  government. 

It  rests  neither  on  "  early  writers,"  on  church  his- 
tory, nor  on  -"  genealogies,"  nor  on  tradition,  nor  on 
any  thing  beyond  the  Bible ;  and  it  can  never  re?t 
upon  u  the  customs  of  the  churches,"  nor  on  new 
revelations  ;  yet  it  absorbs  and  includes  (and  rests, 
according  to  the  analogy  of  faith,  directly  or  iudi- 
rectly  upon)  every  part  of  the  sacred  volume.  It  is 
the  form  most  hated  by  the  ungodly.  They  view  its 
government  as  despotic,  its  doctrines  as  narrow  and 
illiberal,  its  worship  as  unpopular,  and  its  discipline 
as  precise  and  severe.  Both  the  other  forms  must 
borrow  from  it.  The  pope  must  have  his  conclave, 
and  Congregationalism  its  councils  and  conventions. 
It  possesses  the  most  vital  power  *  for  the  promotion 


*  The  Papal  hierarchy  understand  this  well.  The  late  Robert  Stewart, 
Esq.,  of  Detroit,  who  often  engaged  in  social  conversation  with  his 
neighbor,  the  Papal  bishop,  (Rese,)  was  one  day  thus  acaosted  by  him: 
"Stewart,  I  will  tell  you  something  if  you  do  not  gerangry."  "If 
you  try  to  make  me  angry,  you  can.  What  is  it  ?  "  "  If  it  were  not 
for  you  Scotch,  we  would  walk  the  earth."  "  Strange  that  they,  such 
a  small  handful,  should  hinder  you."  "  Ay,  but  by  the  Scotch  I  mean 
"all  that  worship  as  they  do.     They  are  the  only  people  who  hare  stood 

(306) 


DEDUCTIONS.  307 

of  the  divine  glory,  and  of  peace  on  the  earth, 
simply  because  it  is  the  scriptural  form. 

II.  It  is  most  conducive  to  the  civil  and  religious 
happiness  of  man. 

This  may  be  irrefragably  shown  by  the  prosperity 
of  the  United  States  under  it,  and  by  the  condition 
of  every  truly  religious  Presbyterian  family  on 
earth,  where  all  beneath  the  domestic  roof  are  sub- 
ject to  parental  authority,  the  parents  subject  to  the 
eldership,  and  they  to  the  presbytery.  It  may  again 
be  shown  by  the  insufficiency  of  either  of  the  other 
forms  to  promote  the  greatest  peace  of  the  church 
in  connection  with  her  true  unity.  To  the  scrip- 
tural order  of  presbytery,  both  extremes,  the  social 
compact  and  prelacy,  must  come,  and  this  some  of 
them  partially  foresee.  Hence  says  a  writer  in  the 
New  York  Independent,  January  12,  1854,  "  Your 
remarks,  Messrs.  Editors,  show  a  keen  vigilance 
for  the  power  and  dignity  of  the  separate  churches, 
as  against  any  'orders'  that  may  be  above  them, 
but  not  of  them.  Closely  connected  with  all  this 
is  the  question,  What  part  shall  the  churches  have 
in  those  ecclesiastical  bodies,  which  in  fact,  if  not 
avowedly,  form  a  permanent  bond  of  union  between 
them,  and  represent  them  as  an  entire  Christian 
communion  before  the  world  ?  Whatever  theories 
may  prevail  which  ignore  all  permanent  organiza- 

to  be  shot  and  burned  ;  they  will  stand  to  be  shot  and  burned  again. 
We  -Rill  walk  over  them  ;  we  will  walk  the  earth ;  for  all  the  rest  we 
can  either  scare  or  coax."  —  Speech  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  May,  1836. 


308  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

tions  beyond  single  congregations  of  believers,  such 
organizations  are  a  necessity,  and  will  exist  in 
some  form  wherever  there  is  any  thing  like  perma- 
nent Christian  unity,  order,  and  confidence.  With- 
out them  disintegration  is  inevitable.  Even  Qua- 
kers must  have  their  '  yearly  meeting.'  In  New 
England,  in  the  absence  of  other  provision  for  the 
purpose,  distinct  associations  have  spontaneously 
sprung  up,  and  out  of  these,  general  associations, 
forming  a  bond  of  union  for  the  Congregationalists 
of  each  state.  These  bodies  represent  the  denom- 
ination as  a  whole  before  the  world.  Ought  they 
not,  then,  as  in  Maine,  and  in  many  of  the  Western 
States,  to  be  composed  in  part  of  delegates  of  the 
churches  ?  Ought  not  the  lay  element  to  be  equal 
to  the  clerical  ?  For  lack  of  this  lay  element,  we 
have  suffered  loss,  and  have  been  at  a  disadvantage, 
as  compared  with  Presbyterians  and  Episcopa- 
lians, in  our  great  annual  convocations."  How 
much  better  it  would  be  to  cast  aside  these  "  cus- 
toms of  the  churches,"  and*  even  "  Congregational 
principles,"  and  have  those  in  a  scriptural  order, 
who  should  have  the  rule  over  both  churches  and 
members  ;  who  should,  by  the  authority  of  Christ, 
watch  for  their  souls,  and  of  them  render  a  final 
account.  Alas,  Master !  "  Doth  he  not  speak 
parables  ?  "  This  would  establish  the  tyrannical 
bondage  of  Presbyterianism.  But  hear  "  one  of 
themselves,  even  a  prophet  of  their  own,"  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Hall,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  who,  in  a  letter 


DEDUCTIONS.  309 

to  the  *Rev.  Dr.  Hewitt,  says,  "  We  have  row  a 
disjointed,  capricious,  irresponsible  independency, 
which  holds  alike  in  its  embrace  the  vilest  errors 
and  the  most  precious  truth.  Whoever  will  not 
submit  to  this  state  of  things  has  no  alterna- 
tive before  him  but  either  to  contend  almost  hope- 
lessly for  the  ancient  faith  and  order,  or  to  with- 
draw." "  This  witness  is  true."  As  to  the  opposite 
extreme,  the  case  is  but  a  little  better.  Says  the 
New  York  Churchman,  April,  1854,  "  Our  church 
presents  the  spectacle  of  bishop  against  bishop, 
and  doctor  against  doctor,  with  no  voice  to  com- 
pose the  strife,  and  that  on  points  not  lying  outside 
the  ruling  of  her  standards,  and  so  open  to  debate, 
but  on  points  on  which  the  Prayer  Book  must  be 
assumed  to  have  a  determinate  meaning  one  way 
or  the  other.  This  is  a  bad  spectacle — that  of  a 
church  thus  divided  against  itself,  with  no  lawful 
voice  to  compose  the  discord,  and  secure  unity  of 
teaching  on  the  fundamental  doctrine.  It  is  a  posi- 
tion full  of  evils.  Most  heartily  do  we  desire  a  ju- 
dicial determination  of  the  questions  at  issue  by  a 
true  synodical  voice  of  our  church  and  of  the 
church  of  England."  What  elements  of  the  pleas- 
ures of  peace  and  the  beauties  of  holiness  does  this 
(their  own  account  of )  their  condition  show  the 
"tactual  succession"  to  enjoy,  above  the  government 
and  discipline  of  pure  Presbyterianism  ?  "  Believe 
not  every  spirit." 

III.   The  government  of  the  United    States,  if 


310  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

overthrown,  must  be  subverted  by  the  spread  of 
Prelacy  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  Congregationalism 
on  the  other. 

By  pure  Presbyterial  government,  worship,  doc- 
trine, and  discipline,  it  is  impossible  to  overthrow 
either  the  civil  or  religious  liberties  of  the  nation; 
but  a  controlling  representation  of  either  of  the 
other  two  forms  may  do  this.  Let  either  the  Papal 
hierarchy,  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  German  and 
kindred  agrarians,  on  the  other,  have  a  complete 
ascendency,  and  the  United  States  of  America  and 
their  free  institutions  would  exist  only  in  history. 
For  this  ascendency,  Papal  Jesuitism  and  infidelity 
alike  live  in  hope,  and  labor  with  untiring  assiduity. 
Political  demagogues  may,  in  this  case,  cry,  Peace, 
peace,  but  in  it  there  is  none.  As  it  was  at  the 
establishment  of  our  republican  institutions,  so  the 
friends  of  freedom  in  this  country  will  ever  find  it, 
that  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty." 

IV.  All  wars  in  Christendom  must  be  between 
the  different  types  of  Prelacy  itself,  or  between  it 
and  the  other  two  forms.  Prelacy  is  most  fre- 
quently, if  not  always,  aggressive.  JTrue,  we  see 
in  history  Cromwell  and  his  Independents  fighting 
the  Presbyterians,  who  refused  to  acknowledge  "  the 
governors  of  the  kingdom;"  yet  all  the  conflicts 
which  he  originated  form  but  a  speck  among  the 
wars  of  Christendom. 

V.  No  Papal  country  is,  or  can  be,  truly  pre- 
pared for  a  republican  form  of  government. 


DEDUCTIONS.  311 

As  where  there  is  "  no  bishop,  no  king,"  so  where 
there  is  a  prelate,  the  consciences  of  the  many,  by 
the  power  of  a  superabundant  faith,  are  subject  to 
the  few,  civilly  as  well  as  ecclesiastically.  This  is 
readily  seen  in  the  political  convulsions  which  have 
so  frequently  agitated  Mexico  alone ;  and  New 
Granada,  in  aspiring  to  the  liberties  of  republicanism 
forms  "  a  case  in  point,"  in  which  with  "  bull "  and 
tears, the  "holy  father"  deplores  the  dishonor  done  to 
his  priesthood  for  their  fidelity  to  his  dominion.  No 
country  under  the  Papal  hierarchy,  nor  even  under 
Episcopacy  in  its  best  forms,  is  at  all  prepared,  by 
general  intelligence  or  scriptural  morals,  to  sustain 
a  republican  government,  and  it  is  problematical  if 
one  can  ever  become  so.  Prelatic  France  once  de- 
lighted to  drink  the  blood  of  martyrs,  and  she  has 
ever  and  anon  blood  in  abundance  given  to  her  to 
drink,  while  her  present  position  of  prostration  un- 
der the  heel  of  the  dictator  is  to  her,  on  the  scale 
of  existence,  not  only  degrading,  but  a  legitimate 
result  of  her  obsequiousness  to  the  Papal  priesthood. 
If  her  inhabitants,  in  1848,  when  he  was  elected  to 
her  National  Assembly,  had  been  as  familiar  with 
the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  New 
England  Primer  as  were  the  colonists  from  Maine 
to  Georgia  in  1775,  with  these  "  forms  of  sound 
words,"  Louis  Napoleon  would  neither  have  over- 
thrown the  constitution  in  1851,  nor  have  assumed 
the  title  of  emperor  in  1852,  nor  have  been  called 
by  "  his   holiness,"  in  1853,  "  our  beloved  son  in 


312  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Jesus  Christ,  Louis  Napoleon,  Emperor  of  the 
French."  France,  if  thus  once  imbued  with  Pres- 
byterianism,  would  speedily  bless  millions  of  our 
race,  and  no  longer  be,  as  she  is  at  present,  a 
"  Magor  Missabib  "  (Jer.  xx.  3)  in  the  earth. 

VI.  The  fertile  root  of  religious  sectarianism  is 
found  essentially  in  Independency. 

The  sects  governed  by  bishops,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  by  presbyteries,  on  the  other,  while  unscrip- 
turally  numerous,  are  unitedly  so  "  few,  that  a  child 
may  write  them."  We  see  this  abundantly  verified 
under  the  reign  of  Charles  L,  of  England,  during 
the  civil  war.  "  The  full  establishment  of  presby- 
tery in  that  realm  was  hindered  by  the  rapid  and 
unprecedented  growth  of  sectarianism.  When  the 
Westminister  Assembly  sat  down,  in  1643,  there 
were  very  few  dissenters  in  England,  and  these 
were  chiefly  Independents,  who  went  about  the 
country  disseminating  their  opinions.  During  the 
civil  war  they  multiplied  in  most  appalling  num- 
bers. Besides  Papists  and  Prelatists,  the  only  op- 
ponents with  whom  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  had 
to  contend,  there  arose  in  England  Independents 
and  Brownists  of  all  degrees,  Millenarians,  Antino- 
mians,  Anabaptists,  Libertines,  Familists,  Seekers, 
Perfectists,  Socinians,  Arians,  Anti-Scripturists, 
Fifth  Monarchy  men,  Ranters,  Behminists,  Qua- 
kers, and  a  host  of  other  sects.  Errors  of  every 
shade,  heresies  the  most  monstrous,  and  blasphemies 
the  most  revolting,  were  daily  propagated.      The 


DEDUCTIONS.  313 

prolific  nest  in  which  these  sectaries  were  engendered 
was  the  parliamentary  army.  Xo  regular  chaplains 
had  been  provided  for  them,  and  the  bishops  would 
ordain  none  but  those  who  would  use  the  liturgy. 
Thomas  Edwards  enumerates  no  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six  errors  and  heresies  which  pre- 
vailed at  that  time.  In  Scotland,  where  there  was 
a  regular  ministry  and  church  discipline,  no  such 
fanaticism  appeared,  even  during  the  stormiest 
period  of  her  troubles."  *  In  Rhode  Island,  includ- 
ing one  Presbyterian  church,  there  are  about  twenty- 
five  sects,  and  in  "  the  Reserve,"  twenty-nine  out 
of  forty-one  sects  are  Congregationalists.  Unques- 
tionably, then,  Independency  is  the  fruitful  root  of 
sectarianism. 

VII.  The  importance  of  calling  each  sect  by  its 
appropriate  name,  also,  in  this  view,  becomes 
obvious. 

Much  proselyting  is  done  by  sailing  under  false 
colors.  Hence  it  is,  at  times,  not  unusual  on  the 
part  of  some,  who  style  themselves  "Orthodox" 
Congregationalists,  to  tell  Presbyterian  strangers, 
"  We  are  American  Presbyterians,  you  are  Scotch, 
or  (as  the  case  may  be)  Irish  Presbyterians.  Yours 
will  not  suit  this  country.  We  hold  your  doctrines 
4  for  substance.'  There  is  only  a  little  difference. 
Come  with  us.  As  for  your  sacramental  tables, 
psalms,  ruling  elders,   and    objections   to    hymns, 


McCries,  Sketches,  Vol.  I.  pp.  302,  303. 

27 


314 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


choirs,  and  organs,  they  are  only  Scotch  or  Irish 
prejudices."     Other  Congregationalists  will  join  in 

saying  "  Dr. and  the  Rev.  Mr. are 

beautiful  men,  and  pronounce  impressive  discourses; 
you  would  admire  to  hear  them." 

If,  however,  the  radical  and  essential  differences 
which  exist  between  Presbytery  and  Congregation- 
alism were  fully  known,  and  the  close  affinity  which 
exists  between  the  "  Orthodox "  and  Baptists,  (or 
immersing  Congregationalists,)  and  even  between 
the  Orthodox  and  the  self-styled  Unitarians,  espe- 
cially on  the  fourth  Wednesday  and  the  fourth 
Thursday*  of  May  annually,  in  Massachusetts, were 
generally  understood,  it  might  save  some  Presbyte- 
rians in,  at  least,  one  commonwealth,  from  entan- 
gling alliances  with  heterogeneous  sects,  too  often 
to  the  destruction  of  that  elementary  formation  of 
character  which  was  begun  under  a  pious  parental 
roof,  and  so  far  moulded  under  Presbyterian  appli- 
ances. 

VIII.  Another  deduction  which  I  make  from  this 
view  of  the  philosophy  of  sectarianism  is  this  —  that 

*  On  which  days  the  Massachusetts  Convention  of  Congregational 
Ministers,  embracing  all  of  "  the  Orthodox  "  and  all  of  the  Unitarian 
clergymen  in  the  state,  hold  fellowship.  On  said  Wednesday  they  meet 
in  the  Supreme  Court  room  in  Boston  for  business,  or  the  discussion 
of  some  topic,  and  in  Brattle  Street  Church  (Unitarian)  they  preach 
to  each  other  on  Thursday,  at  11,  A.  M.  The  Orthodox,  being  the  most 
numerous,  appoint  the  preacher  two  years  out  of  three,  and  listen  to 
Unitarian  instruction  on  the  third.  At  the  close  of  the  exercises,  a 
collection  is  taken  to  aid  a  fund  on  behalf  of  the  widows  of  Congre- 
gationalist  ministers,  of  both  sects. 


DEDUCTIONS.  315 

Presbyterians  who  emigrate  to  or  in  the  United 
States  should  carefully  retain  their  religious  princi- 
ples and  form  of  worship. 

This  they  are  at  liberty  to  do.  It  is  to  them,  as 
well  as  to  others,  a  land  in  which  they  may  have 
"  freedom  to  worship  God,"  and  they  (according  to 
the  historian  Bancroft)  were  the  first  to  strike  to 
make  it  so.  The  genius  of  the  government  of  the 
country  is  also  peculiarly  favorable  to  them,  as  it  has 
been  borrowed  from  their  order  of  ecclesiastical 
"  regimen."  Local  and  individual  influences,  it  is 
true,  may  for  a  time  oppose  them,  and  they  may 
have,  often  at  some  sacrifice,  to  seek  a  place  to 
which  they  may  successfully  repair  in  order  to  set 
their  trust  upon  the  Lord  after  the  manner  of  their 
fathers,  there  to  be  doing  good  in  the  land,  and  to 
be  fed.  But  the  enjoyment  is  worth  all  the  sacri- 
fice, and  even  earthly  prosperity  is  not  always  more 
certain  and  permanent  to  those  who  sell  their  birth- 
right by  joining  some  more  noisy  or  showy  form  of 
sectarianism.  Declension  in  religious  worth  is  also 
no  unusual  result,  where  some  new  sect  is  embraced ; 
and  this  sometimes  leads  "  those  who  are  given 
to  change  "  far  beyond  their  original  supposition. 
Notwithstanding  a  temporary  zeal  for  their  new 
sect,  goaded  by  that  itching  novelty  which  allured 
them  from  the  ways  of  their  fathers,  declension  will 
not  unfrequently  further  steal  upon  them,  and  an 
after-life  survey  of  the  phases  through  which  they 
have  passed,  will  often  provide  food  for  astonish- 
ment to  their  own  souls. 


316  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Mental  instability  is  closely  allied  to  the  social 
"  compact "  when  operating  ecclesiastically,  and 
when  "the  customs  of  the  churches"  become 
the  polar  star  of  religious  belief  and  worship.  It 
is  also,  at  least  often,  true  that  those  who  become 
proselytes  to  this  "  church  order  "  are  as  frequently 
and  easily  "  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doc- 
trine "  as  those  who  have  been  educated  under  it. 
While  these  observations  apply  to  their  union  with 
any  sect  of  pure  Congregationalists,  or  to  the  varied 
sects  of  Methodists,  which  all  partake,  to  some  ex- 
tent, of  this  church  order,  Presbyterians,  where  the 
spirit  of  the  ecclesiastical  descendants  of  John 
Calvin,  or  the  very  shadow  of  John  Knox,  animates 
them,  will  avoid  union  with  Prelacy,  and  very  es- 
pecially with  the  Papal  form,  — 

"  For  these  are  they,  who  Jacob  have 
devoured  cruelly  ; 
And  they  his  habitation 

have  caused  waste  to  lie."  (*  App.  E.) 

IX.  True  charity  is  to  be  promoted,  not  by  hail- 
ing as  brethren  all  who  choose  to  call  themselves 
Christians,  but  by  weighing  their  doctrine,  govern- 
ment, worship,  and  discipline  in  the  balances  of  the 
sanctuary,  by  trying  the  spirits,  by  rejecting  heretics, 
and  by  rebuking  errorists  sharply,  that  they  may  be 
sound  in  the  faith. 

A  divine  injunction  is,  "endeavoring  to  keep  the 
unity  of  the   Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."     This 


DEDUCTIONS. 


317 


delightful  prize  and  bond,  peace,  we  are,  if  possible, 
to  follow  with  all  men,  and  it  can  be  obtained  only 
by  endeavoring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit. 
Where  some  men,  in  relation  to  the  word  of  God, 
believe  too  much,  and  others  too  little,  it  is  obvious 
that  all  endeavors  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit 
will  be  proportionably  fruitless.  To  obtain  peace 
in  the  visible  church,  men  must,  then,  "  see  eye  to 
eye,"  or  believe  alike  on  the  walls  of  Zion.  This 
vision  of  peace  must,  then,  extend  to  all  that  the 
Spirit  teaches,  and  of  which  he  is  the  author  in  re- 
lation to  each  and  every  point  of  doctrine,  for  he  is 
not  the  author  of  any  two  contradictory  ones,  and 
both  cannot  be  true.  Every  point  of  doctrine  con- 
cerning the  nature,  persons,  works,  and  word  of 
God,  whatever  is  taught  of  him  by  the  Spirit,  must 
be  believed  alike,  or  in  these  truths  there  can  be  no 
unity.  Similar  is  the  case  in  relation  to  divine 
icorship  in  all  its  parts,  especially  in  praise.  Just 
so  far  as  the  Spirit  is  the  author  of  our  songs  of 
praise,  so  far,  and  no  farther,  can  we  sing  with  the 
Spirit.  In  the  upper  sanctuary  there  is  no  discord, 
for  all  sing  with  the  Spirit  the  song  of  the  Lamb; 
and  when  men  cast  their  idols  to  the  moles  and  to 
the  bats,  and  sing  the  Lord's  song,  the  song  of 
Moses  and  of  the  Lamb,  of  which  the  Spirit  is  the 
author,  they  will  more  successfully  endeavor  to 
keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit.  As  human  hymns 
are  varied  by  human  doctrinal  opinion,  and  are 
often  contradictory,  and  as  they  are  not  inspired  by 
27* 


318  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  Spirit,  so  they  do  not  partake  of  his  unity. 
They  may  be  laid  on  the  altar  by  men,  but  they 
are  only  "  strange  fire."  This  unity  exists  also  in 
relation  to  the  government  which  Christ  has,  by  his 
spirit  and  word,  authorized,  and  can  be  found  fully 
under  none  other.  It  must  also  be  kept  by  main- 
taining that  discipline  in  the  church  militant  of 
which  he  is  the  author.  Hence  the  same  unity  of 
which  the  Spirit  is  the  author,  in  the  faith,  experi- 
ence, and  lives  of  his  people,  extends  to  the  whole 
plan  and  entire  application  of  redemption.  There 
is  one  body, — the  church  of  Christ,  —  one  Spirit,  one 
effectual  calling,  one  hope,  one  Lord,  one  faith,  of 
which  the  Spirit  is  the  author,  one  baptism  of  the 
Spirit,  one  God,  and  one  Father  of  all.  True 
charity  is,  then,  to  be  promoted  by  walking  in  the 
Spirit,  keeping  within  all  that  he  teaches  and  au- 
thorizes, and  not  otherwise.  There  may  be  such  a 
thing  as  establishing  earthly  friendships  at  the  sacri- 
fice of  Christ,  (Luke  xxiii.  12;  Acts  iv.  27;)  and  on 
the  altar  of  charity,  so  called,  we  may,  at  times,  see 
Congregationalism  sacrificing  scriptural  principle, 
not  only  on  the  fourth  Thursday  of  May  in  Brattle 
Street  Church,  but  at  other  seasons,  as,  e.  g.,  the 
Boston  Herald  of  April  5,  1854,  thus  announced: 
"  Fast  day  will  be  observed  at  East  Cambridge  by 
a  union  service  in  the  Unitarian  church.  Reading 
of  the  Scriptures  by  the  Methodist  clergyman,  the 
devotions  by  the  Baptist  and  Orthodox,  and  the 
discourse  by  the   Unitarian  pastor,  Mr.  Holland." 


DEDUCTIONS.  319 

"Aman  that  is  an  heretic,  after  the  first  and  second 
admonition  reject." — Titus  iii.  10. 

X.  Those  portions  of  the  visible  church  of  "  like 
precious  faith  "  in  doctrine,  government,  worship, 
and  discipline,  (not  others,)  should  unite  and  main- 
tain the  headship  and  supremacy  of  Christ  over  his 
church,  forego  all  that  is  unscriptural  in  the  shib- 
boleth of  party,  "  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  and  for  its  universal 
diffusion  in  the  earth.  Thus  sectarianism  would 
be  diminished;  men  would  then  say,  "I  am  of 
Christ,"  and  not,  I  am  of  Paul,  or  of  Cephas,  or 
of  Apollos.  They  should,  at  the  same  time,  to  all 
unscriptural  sects  apply  the  teachings  and  order  of 
the  word  of  life,  both  by  bearing  a  direct  and  solemn 
testimony  against  their  erroneous  doctrines,  and  by 
"  expounding  unto  them  the  way  of  God  more 
perfectly." 

Reader,  for  the  promotion  of  these  desirable 
results,  I  have  now  presented  to  you  an  analytical 
and  a  comparative  view  of  the  religious  sects  in  the 
United  States,  with  sketches  of  their  progress  and 
tendencies.  You  will  thus  be  aided  in  distinguish- 
ing things  that  differ. 

If,  in  some  of  my  positions  and  illustrations,  I 
have  appeared  to  you  uncharitable  and  in  error,  I 
beg  of  you  to  survey  the  subject  again.  "  Strike, 
but  hear  me."  The  shades  of  death  will  soon 
spread  over  us ;  we  will  find  that  there  is  but  "  one 


320  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,"  and  that  those  who 
delight  most  deeply  in  the  word  of  God  and  his 
appointed  doctrine,  government,  worship,  and  dis- 
cipline now,  will  then  be  hailed  with,  "  Well  done, 
good  and  faithful."  If,  in  your  estimation,  I  have 
dealt  too  severely  with  the  opinions  of  those  who 
differ  from  me  in  doctrine,  government,  worship,  or 
discipline,  I  ask  you  to  remember  that  the  subject 
itself  compelled  me  to  this;  that  the  disease  is  well 
nigh  desperate,  and  that  unpalatable  medicine 
alone,  under  the  blessing  of  our  Redeemer,  can  re- 
move it.  The  command  of  God  is,  "  Rebuke  them 
sharply ;  that  they  maybe  sound  in  the  faith."  (Titus 
i.  13.)  Until  men  are  brought  to  take  the  Bible  as 
a  whole,  to  believe  and  obey  it  all,  and  it  alone,  as 
the  rule  of  life  and  the  guide  to  immortality,  there 
will  exist  but  little  substantial  hope  for  universal 
peace  to  our  fallen  race.  When  that  is  done,  op- 
pression will  cease, 

"Slavery  itself  will  pass  away, 
And  be  a  tale  of  yesterday." 

"  Neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more." 

Of  "  the  mother  of  fornications  and  abomina- 
tions of  the  earth,"  it  will  be  then  said,  "  Rejoice 
over  her,  thou  heaven,  and  ye  holy  apostles  and 
prophets ;  for  God  hath,  avenged  you  on  her." 
"  Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah,  and  Judah  shall 
not  vex  Ephraim,"  for  sectarian  rancor  will  cease. 
Men  will  then  "keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the 


DEDUCTIONS.  321 

bond  of  peace."  Then,  "  from  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth,"  shall  be  "  heard  songs,  even  glory  to 
the  righteous ; "  all  nations  shall  do  homage  to 
Emanuel,  and  "  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  "  shall 
"become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ,  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and  ever."  In 
that  day  the  Lord  shall  be  one,  and  his  name  one 
throughout  the  whole  earth.  May  God  Almighty 
hasten  it  in  his  time. 


"  His  name  forever  shall  endure : 

last  like  the  sun  it  shall : 
Men  shall  be  bless'd  in  Him,  and  Bless'd 

all  nations  shall  him  call. 
Now  blessed  be  the  Lord  our  God, 

the  God  of  Israel ; 
For  he  alone  doth  wondrous  works, 

in  glory  that  excel. 
And  blessed  be  his  glorious  name 

to  all  eternity. 
The  whole  earth  let  his  glory  fill. 

\.men,  so  let  it  be." 

Ps.  lxxii. 


APPENDIX 


A. 

In  a  philosophical  survey  of  sectarianism,  it  may  be  readily 
asked,  How  do  you  account  for  the  unequalled  growth  of 
Methodism  in  the  United  States  ?  To  this  obvious  result, 
various  influences  and  causes  conspire.  Some  of  the  more 
prominent  arise  from  the  doctrines  of  this  denomination — 
such  as  the  denial  of  predestination,  election,  total  depravity, 
efficacious  grace,  and  the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints. 

Mankind  usually,  by  nature,  deny  these  doctrines.  Every 
man  believes  himself  to  be  the  architect  of  his  own  spiritual 
destiny;  that  God  has  not  from  all  eternity  foreordained 
whatsoever  comes  to  pass,  and  by  consequence  that  he  has 
not  '•'  out  of  his  mere  good  pleasure  elected  some  to  everlast- 
ing life,"  but  that  he  has  chosen,  or  rather  must  choose,  them 
in  consequence  of  some  foreseen  good  works  to  be  by  them 
at  some  time  performed.  Very  gratifying  to  our  depraved 
nature,  also,  is  the  idea  of  a  hypothetical  salvation  for  all 
mankind,  if  they  will  repent  and  believe  the  gospel,  founded 
on  an  indefinite  atonement.  To  all  such,  the  declaration  of 
the  great  Shepherd,  "  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep,"  ap- 
pears as  a  hard  saying,  or  as  an  idle  tale. 

From  our  native  corruption,  also,  every  individual  supposes 
that  in  him  dwells  much  that  is  good,  and  that  by  the  light 
of  nature,  where  the  gospel  is  unknown,  salvation  may  be 
effected.     Hence  this  opinion  is  considered,  by  all  who  are 

(328) 


824  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM, 

strangers  to  the  plagues  of  their  own  hearts,  as  a  most  lib- 
eral and  charitable  doctrine.  The  irresistible  and  effica- 
cious operation  of  the  Spirit  in  the  reign  of  grace  is  a  hard 
saying  to  all  who  are  "  alive  without  the  law."  while  the  idea 
'that  a  man  may  be  in  Christ  to-day  and  in  hell  to-morrow,  if 
he  should  ere  then  die,  is  abhorrent  to  the  belief  of  no  Armin- 
ian.  Hence  the  popular  opinion  that  a  man  can  get  religion 
or  lose  it  at  his  pleasure.  Contrasted  with  these  and  similar 
sectarian  views,  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace  reigning 
through  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  in  the  election,  regener- 
ation, justification,  and  progressive  sanctification  of  his  peo- 
ple, is  viewed  as  behind  the  age,  and  is  usually  called  one 
of  "  the  hard  doctrines." 

Some  imagine  that  they  can  have  the  gospel  preached 
without  doctrine  at  all ;  and  the  public  teacher  who  avoids 
those  doctrines  which  both  abase  the  pride  of  man  and  exalt 
God  as  the  author  of  salvation  to  the  perishing  children  of 
men,  becomes  the  popular  idol,  and  is  preeminently  styled  a 
liberal  preacher.  In  short,  every  man,  as  to  his  doctrinal  opin- 
ions of  "  the  way  of  salvation,"  is  born  an  Arminian,  and 
while  he  "  must  be  born  again  "  to  be  a  true  Calvinist,  in  the 
mean  time  all  that  is  requisite  to  make  him  a  Methodist  is 
the  adoption  of  the  chosen  opinions,  order,  and  usages  estab- 
lished by  the  Rev.  John  Wesley.     The  process  is  not  difficult. 

Tributary  to  this  result,  also,  is  the  itinerant  life  of  his 
ministry,  it  being  much  easier  to  tell  for  twenty-four  months 
the  opinions  of  u  the  founder  of  Methodism,"  than  to  preach 
"  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,"  by  "not  shunning  to 
declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God,"  which  must  necessarily 
require  the  labor  of  many  years.  As  a  part  of  his  arrange- 
ments, subservient  to  the  diffusion  of  his  tenets  and  the  in- 
crease of  his  sects,  the  wisdom  of  "  the  founder  "  appears  in 
the  manner  in  which  his  preachers  are  supported.  They 
have  a  well-regulated  support,  and  can  give  a  constant  devo- 
tion to  their  specific  work.  Clergymen  of  the  Presbyterian 
and  purely  Congregation;;!  orders,  such  as  the  Baptists,  may,  at 


APPENDIX.  325 

times,  in  want,  minister  to  their  own  necessities  with  their 
own  hands  ;  but  from  this  the  bishops  and  ordained  preachers 
of  Methodism  are  exempted.  They  give  themselves  wholly 
to  the  advancement  of  their  denominational  interests. 

Again :  their  manner  of  not  laboriously  informing  the  un- 
derstanding with  sound  doctrine,  in  relation  to  the  covenant 
of  grace,  but  of  presenting  the  opinions  which  they  propagate 
directly  to  the  feelings  of  their  hearers,  by  addressing  to  their 
fears  the  terrors  of  the  law,  connected  with  their  systematic 
arrangements  of  camp  meetings,  anxious  seats,  classes,  love 
feasts,  and  conferences,  all  conspire  to  produce  numerical  in- 
crease. Much  is  also  done  indirectly  to  promote  the  same 
end.  where  positive  prohibition  might  prove  unavailing  by 
the  systematic  arrangement  of  holding  (what  are  called) 
prayer  meetings,  when  they  have  not  preaching,  at  the  same 
hour  at  which  neighboring  congregations  assemble  for  public 
worship.  Their  rulers  may  not  directly  prohibit  their  socie- 
ties from  hearing  the  ministry  of  other  denominations,  yet  no 
opportunity  is  thus  afforded  them  so  to  do,  without  the  com- 
punctions which  must  arise  from  treason  to  the  adopted  order 
and  laws  of  their  founder. 

Whiie  their  confessional  in  class  meetings  may  provoke 
others  to  emulation  in  disclosing  their  personal  turpitude  to  a 
degree  which,  however  true,  they  would  not  for  a  moment 
allow  others  to  declare  of  them  in  verity,  it  cherishes  their 
spiritual  pride  and  self-righteousness  by  inspiring  the  purpose 
of  personal  and  sinless  perfection  in  future  in  connection 
with  the  idea  that  they  can  keep  themselves  in  a  justified 
state.  In  short,  the  self-sufficiency  of  our  unrenewed  nature 
is  more  cherished  by  such  processes  than  that  self-abasement 
of  soul  which  characterizes  the  true  believer,  to  whom  u  Christ 
is  precious  "  and  u  all  in  all." 

The  probation  for  a  few  months  into  which  their  seekers 
must  enter,  under  class  leaders,  removes  also  some  of  the 
difficulties  which  deter  those  from  doing  so,  who,  in  trembling 
uncertainty  as  to  the  precise  path  of  dutv,  desire  to  make 

28 


326  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

a  public  profession  of  faith  before  a  session  or  a  whole  church. 
It  makes  the  way  to  membership  gradual  and  easy.  The 
tenure  of  their  church  property  to  so  great  an  extent  by  their 
ministry,  together  with  that  part  of  the  arrangement  by  which 
the  few  are  to  think  for  the  many,  must  not  be  lost  sight  of 
in  our  inquiry  into  the  reason  of  their  denominational  pros- 
perity. 

Their  devoted  preference  for  any  thing  produced  by  the 
denomination,  especially  if  it  will  strengthen,  pecuniarily  or 
otherwise,  their  own  numbers,  conspires  also  powerfully  to 
this  result.  In  this  they  apparently  borrow  one  feature  from 
Popery.  Although  the  Anglican  church  and  her  American 
daughter  recommend  usually  the  purchase  of  their  peculiar 
books  of  devotion  from  their  own  manufacturers  and  traders,  yet 
none  of  their  members  would,  probably,  long  hesitate  to  pur- 
chase a  copy  of  the  "  Book  of  Common  Prayer  "  from  a  Bap- 
tist or  a  Presbyterian  publisher  provided  it  were  a  correct  one ; 
but  out  of  an  opposite  determination  and  rule  has  grown  the 
u  Methodist  Book  Concern,"  through  which  must  come  to  his 
faithful  followers  the  u  Hymns  for  the  Use  of  the  People 
called  Methodists,  by  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,"  with  the  com- 
bined recommendation  of  his  American  bishops  for  their  uni- 
versal and  exclusive  use. 

It  would  appear  that  religious  books  which  do  not  emanate 
from,  nor  pass  through,  the  "  Concern,"  or,  at  least,  of  it  have 
the  tacit  consent,  belong  among  this  sect  to  their  index  ex 
purgatory.  This  gives  not  only  the  precise  impression  to  their 
sectarian  books,  but  it  unites  the  labor  of  the  manufacturer 
and  the  money  of  the  purchaser  in  swelling  their  aggregate 
denominational  wealth,  already  in  their  "  Concern  "  amount- 
ing to  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  two  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  dollars,  being,  in  1853,  adjudged  to  the 
Methodist  church  south  as  her  share.  This  is  a  species  of 
sectarian  policy,  subservient  to  denominational  increase,  to 
which  proper  Presbyterians  have,  until  recently,  been  blind 
with  indifference.      It  matters  not  to  them  who  publishes 


APPENDIX.  327 

the  u  Psalms  "  provided  they  can  obtain  them  at  low  prices; 
and  in  this  way  the  late  Matthew  Carey  made  (it  is  said)  a 
no  inconsiderable  fortune  in  Philadelphia  by  publishing  the 
Psalms,  vulgarly  called  Rouse's  version,  and  family  Bibles, 
with  the  Psalms  in  metre,  before  u  his  holiness  n  knew  that 
his  otherwise  faithful  son  was  thus  affording  spiritual  "  aid 
and  comfort "  to  heretics,  by  enabling  them  to  read  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  to  sing  the  Genevan  jigs. 

When  to  all  these  elements  of  increase  we  add  the  matter 
and  manner  of  their  praise  in  public  worship,  we  find  it  all 
calculated  to  suit  the  pleasure  and  pride  of  the  human  heart. 
Hymns  adapted  to  Arminian  doctrines  are,  to  our  nature, 
more  attractive  and  popular  than  the  Songs  of  Zion,  especially 
when  presented  by  suitable  music  of  a  sentimental  and 
pathetic  character.  By  training  a  whole  assembly  to  sing, 
instead  of  listening  to  a  few  performers  in  an  elevated  place, 
by  making  the  living  voice,  and  not  a  "thing  without  life,  giv- 
ing sound/*'  fill  the  human  ear,  interest  is  elicited,  attention 
is  aroused,  and  emulation  is  secured.  This  obedience,  in  so 
far,  to  divine  appointment,  "  Let  all  the  people  praise  thee,  0 
God,"  has  a  healthful  action  on  denominational  growth. 

Again  :  matters  about  which  other  sects  are  precise  are 
(at  least  sometimes)  to  them  subjects  of  indifference.  Does 
an  adult,  who  has  not  been  (on  the  profession  of  parental 
faith)  baptized,  make  a  demand  for  this  ordinance,  he  can 
receive  it  either  by  sprinkling  or  immersion.  Does  a  formal 
parent  dread  the  austere  discipline  of  the  Presbyterian  church, 
and  live  without  her  pale  when  he  ought  to  be  one  of  her 
pillars,  and  desire  to  have  (to  quiet  the  itchings  of  con- 
science) his  children  baptized,  he  can  with  them  have  this 
done  on  easy  terms,  both  as  to  vows  now  and  the  perform- 
ance of  them  hereafter. 

But,  in  short,  whether  we  survey  the  government,  doctrine, 
worship,  or  discipline  of  this  sect,  in  connection  with  the  de- 
pravity, ignorance,  unbelief,  and  prejudice  of  mankind,  they 
are  all  framed  to  conspire,  with  almost  the  perfection  of 


328  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

mechanism,  to  the  desired  end  —  the  increase  and  perpetuity 
of  Methodism  made  subservient  to  the  posthumous  fame  of 
its  founder.  If  it  only  had  the  sanction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  it 
would  be  all  but  omnipotent  in  converting  sinners,  even  if 
they  were  not  ordained  to  eternal  life,  nor  of  such  as  should 
be  saved.  (Acts  ii.  47  :  xiii.  48.)  It  is  a  combination  of  Epis- 
copacy and  Congregationalism  which  is  "  cunningly  devised," 
giving  to  the  people  large  imaginary  ideas  of  ecclesiastical 
liberty,  while  their  whole  "  governmental  organization  "  is 
beyond  their  reach,  and  in  the  hands  of  their  ministry.  "  The 
people  have  no  part  in  their  governmental  organization,'-  says 
Judge  Nelson,  '-'and  never  had." 

So  perfect  are  the  arrangements  of  the  founder  and  his  official 
successors  for  increasing  numerically  the  denomination,  that, 
excepting  by  those  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  they  are  unequalled ; 
and  if  it  were  not  that  they  differ  from  the  arrangements  of 
the  covenant  of  grace,  they  might  ultimately  become  univer- 
sal among  men.  This  may  be  seen  by  an  inspection  of  the 
entire  machinery,  doctrinal,  moral,  literary,  ecclesiastical, 
and  social,  of  this  sect.  Under  the  spreading  branches  of 
the  tree  of  national  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  (which,  as  we 
have  seen,  they  did  but  little  to  plant,)  this  denomination 
have  found  in  the  United  States  a  genial  soil,  where  they 
may  freely  grow.  *      The    leaven   of  republican   principles 

*  Still,  in  common  with  the  other  works  of  man,  the  fabric  of  Meth- 
odism gives  forebodings  that  it  will  neither  universally  swallow  up  all 
other  sects,  nor  be  eternal  in  its  duration.  Its  growth  in  some  of  its 
earliest  fields  is  stinted,  and  in  some  places  even  the  moss  of  decay  is 
germinating  on  its  trunk.  At  least,  appearances  have  so  presented 
themselves  to  other  observers,  both  in  England  and  the  Northern  States, 
of  which  the  following,  among  other  statistics,  are  in  proof:  "  The  Chris- 
tian Advocate  and  Journal  gives  a  table,  showing  the  total  number  of 
members  of  the  Methodist  churches  in  New  York  to  have  been,  in 
1843,  nine  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty ;  18o3,  nine  thousand 
three  hundred  and  thirteen,  showing  a  decrease  in  ten  years  of  four 
hundred  members,  while  the  population  has  nearly  doubled."  *    The 

*  Boston  Traveller,  January  13, 1854. 


APPENDIX.  329 

may,  however,  in  due  time  excite  their  people  to  subvert 
the  very  foundations  of  their  u  founder,"  by  demanding  a 
lay  representation  in  "their  governmental  organization,"  or,  in 
other  words,  by  insisting  on  the  introduction  of  the  scriptural 
order  of  simply  ruling  elders  into  their  ecclesiastical  super- 
vision, and  by  reclaiming  the  control  usually  enjoyed  by 
other  denominations,  excepting  the  Episcopal.  (Papal  and 
Protestant.)  of  their  church  lands,  places  of  worship,  and 
mission  houses. 

The  continued  exclusion,  however,  of  the  common  people 
from  these  privileges  and  trusts,  will  both  contribute  to  de- 
nominational extension,  and  continue  until  the  schoolmaster 
moves  abroad ;  while  the  delay  of  that  period  will  more 
clearly  disclose  the  fact,  that  no  man,  in  establishing  a  popu- 
lar species  of  sectarianism,  has  ever  written  more  legibly  his 
own  epitaph,  "  He.  being  dead,  yet "  reigneth,  than  the  Rev. 
John  Wesley. 

same  paper  states  the  decrease  in  the  same  ten  years,  in  Baltimore,  to 
be  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-three,  while  that  city  has,  in 
that  period,  largely  increased.*  This  is  their  own  account  of  the  field 
in  which  Methodism  was  first  planted  in  America.  It  should  not, 
however,  be  forgotten,  that  every  appliance  within  their  power,  secular 
and  ecclesiastical,  is  exerted  to  the  supreme  end  of  denominational  in- 
crease, and  by  Presbyterian  parents  it  should  be  vigilantly  remembered 
that  among  these  their  educational  schemes  are  not  the  most  insignifi- 
cant for  the  promotion  of  this  design.  Under  the  sounding  titles  of 
colleges  and  universities,  in  which  a  tinsel  and  superficial  education  is, 
at  least  too  often,  obtained  at  a  comparatively  low  price,  they  are  en- 
abled to  secure  the  patronage  of  easy  Presbyterians,  who  little  dream 
how  readily  tfceir  children  may  thus  become  familiar  with  "  another 
gospel." 

•  In  Boston,  in  ten  years  preceding  1853,  they  have  gained  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
members,  and  in  Pittsburg,  says  the  Christian  Advocate,  "  we  find,  in  1853,  our  numerical 
strength  about  what  it  was  ten  years  previous  —  seventen  hundred.—  Preacher,  March 
22,1854. 

28* 


330        PHILOSOPHY  OF  SECTARIANISM. 


B. 


The  growth  of  the  immersing  Congregationalists  has,  in 
this  land,  during  the  last  seventy  years,  been  very  great.  In 
that  period,  the  ministry  of  the  Regular  Baptists  has  increased 
about  ten  fold,  their  members  sixteen  fold,  and  their  churches 
seventeen  fold.  Of  this  increase,  "  believing  too  little,"  or 
less  than  the  entire  word  of  God,  has  been  the  prominent 
cause.  Thus,  when  their  supposed  examples  of  immersion 
are  referred  to,  as  our  only  divinely  authorized  rule  in  bap- 
tism, to  the  exclusion  of  the  promise  of  the  covenant  of 
grace,  "so  shall  he  sprinkle  many  nations  ;  "  to  the  denial  and 
rejection  of  the  fact  that  all  Christians  are  "elect  to  the  sprin- 
kling of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  that  when  "  made  par- 
takers of  the  divine  nature  "  by  regeneration,  they  are  "  come 
to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  which  speaketh  better  things  than 
that  of  Abel ;  "  and  when  they  constantly  dwell  on  these  with 
tenacity  and  pertinacity,*  multitudes,  not  largely  acquainted 
with  the  wTord  of  God,  are  constrained  to  believe  that  immer- 
sion must  be  the  only  scriptural  mode,  and  that  it  alone  can 
be  baptism ;  while  so  important,  also,  in  this  way  may  this 
their  peculiar  rite  be  made  at  times  to  appear,  that  it  savors 
strongly  of  possessing  a  saving  efficacy. 

The    low  estimate  of  the  office  and  work  of  the  gospel 


*  "  A  writer  in  the  Watchman  and  Reflector,  (Baptist,)  expounding 
the  text,  Matt.  iii.  11,  where  it  is  said,  '  He  shall  baptize'you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,'  comes  to  the  following  result :  '  The 
meaning  of  John's  language,  then,  taken  in  its  connection,  seems  to 
be,  that  the  coming  Messiah  would  baptize  his  hearers  either  in  the  gra- 
cious influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  in  the  extreme  misery  of  eternal 
fire.  Those  who  believe  his  doctrine  should  enjoy  very  copious  influ- 
ences of  his  spirit,  and  those  who  reject  him  should  be  overwhelmed 
with  misery.  Ali  should  be  immersed  either  in  happiness  or  in  suffer- 
ing.' "  —  Puritan  Recorder,  November  17,  1853. 


APPENDIX.  331 

ministry,  and  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  entered,  or,  at 
times,  assumed,  with  the  sanction  of  a  popular  vote,  among 
this  denomination,  even  where  many  of  the  most  prominent 
ingredients  of  ministerial  ability  are  wanting,*  has  contributed 
to  the  same  result.  Connected  with  this  the  increase  of  pop- 
ulation has  also,  in  many  parts  of  this  land,  far  outrun  all  the 
means  f  of  religious  instruction,  and  consequently  affords 
ample  opportunity  to  the  zealous,  both  with  and  without 
knowledge,  to  thrust  in  their  sickles  and  gather  the  harvest 
of  numbers  into  the  garner  of  their  own  sectarian  opinions. 
What  is  said  in  the  following  extract  from,  the  Spirit  of 
Missions,  of  New  York,  (1848,)  of  the  ca.uses  of  the  growth 
of  this  denomination  in  Kentucky,  (the  most  Baptist  state  in 
the  Union,  not  excepting  their  maternal  one,  Rhode  Island,) 
will  answer  almost  literally  for,  at  least,  much  of  the  south- 
western portion  of  the  United  States. 

"  For  nearly  a  century  before  the  revolution,  the  wealthy 
and  aristocratic  families  of  Virginia,  descended  as  they  were 
from  the  refugee  Cavaliers  of  Cromwell's  time,  and,  therefore, 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Baird  estimates  that  "  not  above  one  third  of  the 
clergymen  of  this  denomination  have  a  collegiate  education."  For  a 
more  general  diffusion  of  education,  they  are  now  making,  probably, 
efforts  unsurpassed  in  the  United  States,  finding  this  course  most 
subservient  to  denominational  growth.  Hence  says  the  Boston  Travel- 
ler, March  31,  1854,  "Within  the  last  six  years,  one  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  have  been  subscribed  towards  the  endowment  of 
Baptist  colleges  and  seminaries  in  this  country.  The  whole  number 
of  instructors  connected  with  them  is  one  hundred  and  fifty-four, 
students  over  two  thousand  five  hundred.  They  have  graduated  over 
four  thousand  students  in  all,  and  their  libraries  contain  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  volumes." 

f  The  number  of  adults  in  the  State  of  Georgia  who  cannot  read  or 
write  is  forty-one  thousand,  and  the  number  of  children  whose 
parents  are  unable  to  send  them  to  school  is  upwards  of  thirty-eight 
thousand.  According  to  official  returns,  the  number  of  adults  in  Vir- 
ginia who  cannot  read  and  write  is  eighty  thousand,  —  twenty  thousand 
more  than  in  1840,  —  and  the  number  of  the  children  whose  parents  have 
not  the  means  to  educate  them  is  seventy-five  thousand. 


332  philosophy  of  sectarianism. 

stanch  church  of  England  men.  were  obliged  to  send  home, 
as  they  called  it,  not  only  for  their  clergy,  but,  as  they  held 
themselves  loftily  superior  to  any  menial  employments,  few 
their  overseers  and  mechanics  also.  And  it  may  readily  be 
supposed  that  this  intermediate  class,  feeling  quite  above  the 
colored  population,  and  being,  in  turn,  scorned  and  looked 
down  upon  by  their  employers,  would  be  strongly  tempted  to 
imbibe  and  cherish  sentiments  at  variance  with  those  of  the 
upper  class.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  they  had  cause  to  com- 
plain of  being  slighted  and  neglected  by  the  clergy,  who,  in 
too  many  instances,  were  the  flatterers  and  boon  companions 
of  the  wealthier  people. 

"  With  such  tendencies,  we  may  suppose  that  the  border 
counties,  now  the  magnificent  region  just  below  the  Blue 
Ridge,  would,  to  a  great  extent,  be  first  peopled  by  this  class 
of  white  people,  and  that  they  would,  as  soon  as  they  had  ac- 
quired means,  set  up.  however  humble,  as  independent  land- 
holders for  themselves.  Certain  it  is  that  Baptist  ministers, 
some  of  them  from  Rhode  Island,  before  the  revolution,  pen- 
etrated into  these  counties,  and  not  only  found  vast  multitudes 
in  a  condition  loudly  calling  for  missionary  exertion,  but  pre- 
pared to  embrace  with  enthusiasm  almost  any  class  of  opin- 
ions, social,  political,  or  religious,  which  were  at  antipodes  to 
those  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  upper  classes. 

"  At  the  period  of  the  revolution,  many  of  the  then  Baptist 
dogmas  rang  like  a  tocsin  in  the  ears  of  the  poor  white  people 
of  old  Virginia.  An  unlettered  clergy,  not  haughtily  superior 
to  the  poor;  a  laborious,  unpaid  clergy,  sharing  in  the  daily 
toils,  and  thankful  for  the  rough  hospitality  of  the  poorest  farm- 
er ;  forms  of  religion  which  made  the  mountain  stream,  in  their 
estimation,  the  only  consecrated  font  of  baptism.  No  stately 
altars,  no  dignified  vestments,  no  costly  sacramental  vases, 
no  pompous  dignitaries,  no  far-fetched  ministerial  commis- 
sion, no  sober  forms  of  prayer  for  them.  Their  own  sons  and 
brothers,  in  every-day  attire,  often  in  their  shirt  sleeves,  and 
with  their  own  homespun  modes  of  speech,  preached  to  them." 


APPENDIX.  333 

One  of  these  preachers,  in  making  his  return,  in  1852,  re- 
ported that  he  had  "  exercised  one  hundred  and  ninety-six 
times,  and  received  two  hundred  and  forty  dollars  in  the  entire 
year."  * 

Not  only  in  the  regions  above  described,  but  also  in  other 
parts  of  the  nation,  this  denomination,  until  recently,  dreaded 
u  head  knowledge  "  and  :"  man-made  ministers."'"  The  details 
of  personal  observation  in  the  State  of  Maine  would  abun- 
dantly confirm  this  position,  and  illustrate  its  effects.  This 
low  estimate  of  the  ministerial  office  and  work,  operating 
both  as  cause  and  effect,  produces  both  results,  like  priest, 
like  people,  and  like  people,  like  priest :  yet  it  contributes 
materially  to  denominational  enlargement.  It  gives  a  vast 
facility  to  sectarian  extension  beyond  the  comparatively  slow 
process  of  admission  into  the  ministry  among  Presbyterians, 
where  no  man  can  be  admitted  a  student  of  divinity  without 
being  in  full  communion  with  the  Christian  church,  nor  pre- 
vious to  his  examination  in  relation  to  his  abilities,  education, 
and  piety;  after  which,  -in  ordinary  cases,  no  student  of 
divinity  can  be  admitted  to  trials  for  license  without  a  course 
of  theological  study  during  three  full  years  after  the  time  of 
his  being  received  by  presbytery/'  Having  produced  satis- 
factory testimonials  of  unexceptionable  conduct  and  of  pro- 
ficiency in  classical  and  philosophical  literature,  he  must,  on 
examination  by  the  presbytery,  give  proof  of  his  skill  in  the 
original  languages  of  the  Scriptures,  of  acquaintance  with 
ecclesiastical  history,  and  with  the  doctrines  of  our  holy  re- 
ligion. He  shall  be  examined  especially  on  the  Deistical, 
Socinian,  and  Arminian  controversies,  on  the  nature  of  the 
sacraments,  on  the  principles  of  church  government,  and 
privately  on  his  own  experience  of  the  grace  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  ;  after  which,  "  to  alford  a  specimen  of  his  ministerial 
talents,  he  shall  deliver,  as  pieces  of  trial,  a  homily,  an  exe- 
gesis, a  critical  exercise,  a  lecture,  and  a  popular  sermon. n 

*  Xew  York  Observer. 


334  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Notwithstanding  that  thi^  process  of  admission  to  the  ministry- 
appears  slow,  (and  the  rejection  of  some  leading  features  of 
it  forms  a  prominent  cause  of  the  numerical  increase  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterians.)  yet  the  experience  of  the  Bap- 
tist churches  testifies  loudly  to  its  necessity.  While  some 
among  the  more  wealthy  and  aristocratic  societies  in  the 
north  (as  among  other  Congregationalists)  will,  on  fitting 
seasons,  make  a  hymn  for  the  occasion,  or  sing  a  u  Wel- 
come Pastor "  to  their  minister  after  a  period  of  absence, 
the  Baptist  churches  in  the  south  have  enrolled  in  their  use 
(in,  at  least,  one  book  of  hymns,  viz.,  Mercer's  Cluster, 
hymn  ccxxxi.,  verses  2,  3)  the  following  effusions  :  — 

"  Of  every  preacher  I'd  complain : 
One  spoke  through  pride,  and  one  for  gain  ; 

Another's  learning  small  ; 
One  spoke  too  fast,  and  one  too  slow ; 
One  prayed  too  loud,  and  one  too  low; 
Another  had  no  call. 

"  Some  walk  too  straight  to  make  a  show, 
While  others  far  too  crooked  go  ; 

And  both  of  these  I  scorn. 
Some  odd,  fantastic  motions  make  ; 
Some  stoop  too  low,  some  stand  too  straight ; 

No  one  is  faultless  born." 

If  those  who  advocate  the  use  of  human  hymns  in  the 
praise  of  God  can  glorify  him  by  the  use  of  such  poetical 
philippics,  (and  this  they  must  avowedly  do,)  how  "  highly 
in  love  for  their  work's  sake  "  do  such  worshippers  hold 
their  preachers  ?  Their  ministers,  consequently,  experience 
changes  nearly  half  as  often  as  those  who  are  biennially 
removed  by  the  rules  of  the  founder  of  Methodism,  while 
their  advantages  by  removal  are  comparatively  small.  The 
preachers  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  know  before  removal 
where  their  next  mission  house  is  to  be  found,  and  to  what 
people  they  go  j  the  Baptist  elder,  (at  least  oftentimes,)  like  the 


APPENDIX.  335 

Levite,  (Judges  xvii.  9,)  "goes  to  sojourn  where  he  may  find 
a  place.''  Hence,  says  the  Watchman  and  Reflector,  "  Out 
of  one  hundred  and  ninety  Baptist  pastors  in  Massachusetts, 
in  the  four  years  ending  April  1,  1852,  one  hundred  and 
seventy  changed  places,  six  died,  leaving  but  fourteen  station- 
ary. For  the  same  period,  sixty-one  out  of  seventy-one  Bap- 
tist pastors  in  New  Hampshire  changed  their  fields  of  labor. 
Three  died,  leaving  seven,  the  remainder,  settled  over  the 
same  people."  *  This  constant  changing,  however,  although 
it  retards  the  growth  of  sound  doctrine  and  of  true  godliness, 
enables  not  a  few  of  them,  in  connection  with  their  varied 
other  appliances,  to  make  a  little  knowledge  of  spiritual 
mysteries  go  a  long  way  in  propagating  what  they  are  pleased 
to  call  "believer  baptism." 

Subservient  to  the  same  end  is  the  exclusion  of  the  Songs 
of  Zion  from  the  praise  of  God,  and  the  adoption  of  human 
hymns  to  answer  the  diversified  opinions  of  the  varied  sects 
of  Baptists,  from  the  "  Calvinistic  "  down  to  the  "  Latter  Day 
Saints."  Each  sect  must  revel  in  poetical  fancies,  and  al- 
though they  vary  as  does  WinchelFs  Watts  from  those  of 
the  "  Second  Adventists,"  still,  adapted  to  corresponding 
music,  they  have  all  a  sectarian  and  denominational  design 
and  influence;  and  so  far  as  both  hymns  and  tunes  have  any 
force,  they  subserve  the  extension  and  perpetuity  of  this 
group  of  sects,  by  dwelling  on  immersion  to  the  exclusion  of 
sprinkling.    % 

"  Music  has  charms,"  not  only  "  to  soothe  the  savage  breast," 
but  also  to  stereotype  on  the  mind  the  sentiments  which  it 
accompanies,  and  to  promote  beyond  all  prose  the  sectarian 
views  of  those  who  for  this  purpose  employ  it.  Hence  we 
find  such  plunging  effusions  as  the  following  :  — 

"  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood 
Drawn  from  Emanuel's  veins, 
And  sinners  plunged  beneath  tbis  flood 
Are  cleansed  from  guilty  stains." 

*  Boston  Congregationalist,  April  8,  1853. 


336  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

Such  sentimentality  ma}*  induce  not  a  few  to  be  plunged 
according  to  sectarian  custom  ;  bat  it  happens  to  convey  no 
very  clear  idea  of  "the  blood  of  sprinkling,"  to  which  every 
Christian  has  "  come/5  and  is  irreconcilably  at  Avar  with  the 
word  of  God,  which  assures  us  that  all  his  "  seed  "  are  "  elect 
to  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Among  the  causes  which  conspire  to  the  increase  of  this 
group  of  sects  must  not  remain  unnoticed  the  vast  amount 
of  ignorance  or  the  destitution  of  sound  doctrinal  instruction 
in  relation  to  the  baptism  of  the  infants  of  believing  parents, 
and  the  obligations  which  it  involves.  While  multitudes 
professing  to  believe  in  infant  baptism  have  this  ordinance 
administered  to  children  simply  because  they  are  children, 
and  consequently  cannot  be  expected  to  pay  that  which  they 
have  not  vowed,  others,  who  profess  to  receive  baptism  for 
them  because  they  are  the  children  of  believing  parents,  and 
federally  "holy,"  (1  Cor.  vii.  14.)  although  they  make  vows, 
neglect  to  perform  them.  Consequently,  because  such  parents 
have  their  consciences  lulled  to  slumber  by  the  fact  that  their 
children  are  baptized,  and  settle  down  into  a  deep  ignorance 
of  the  doctrine  of  our  Savior,  their  children,  instead  of  being 
trained  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  and 
growing  up  in  the  courts  of  our  God,  by  the  force  of  an  example, 
deep,  impressive,  and  lasting,  without  any  great  difficulty,  as 
they  grow  up,  "  despise  their  birthright/'  Where  there  is  no 
•■church  in  the  house/'  in  which  "to  rear  the  tender  plant." 
and  no  Sabbath  evening  school  there,  in  which  "to  teach  the 
young  idea  how  to  shoot,"  and  to  know  from  parental  lips  the 
"  first  principles  of  the  oracles  of  God,"  the  children  thus 
neglected  by  their  parents  are  easily  induced  to  seek  abroad 
what  they  do  not  find  at  home.  As  a  Sabbath  school  is  a 
voluntary  arrangement,  in  which  no  parental  vows  are  neces- 
sary, and  in  which  those  who  are  eager  (although  not  always 
"apt)  to  teach"  can  proselyte  to  their  own  opinions,  so  such 
children  and  youth,  as  well  as  those  who  have  never  been 
"presented  to  the  Lord  in  his  temple,"  often  become  tha 


APPENDIX.  337 

read)' pupils  of  instructors,  who,  by  a  series  of  doctrinal  ideas, 
lead  them  eventually*  in  their  denominational  phraseology, 
"down  into  Jordan."'*  Under  such  tuition  they  can  ultimately 
be  taught  to  believe  that  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  the  sprin- 
kling of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  infant  baptism,  are  as 
''the  chaff  to  the  wheat7'  in  comparison  with  the  total  sub- 
mersion with  the  body,  of  those  external  appendages,  in 
which  sin  has  invested  our  mortal  frames,  our  garments. 

Another  prolific  source  of  sectarian  increase  among  this 
division  of  the  visible  church  is  the  systematic  exclusion  of 
every  thing  in  books  which  savors  of  the  doctrine  of  infant 
baptism.  By  this  means  their  Sabbath  scholars,  if  not  their 
people,  know  but  little  on  this  subject  excepting  what  their 
writers  are  pleased  to  teach  them.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said 
they  have  a  share  in  conducting  the  American  Sunday  School 
Union.  This  is  too  true.  Hence,  when  a  book  has  been  so 
divested  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  and  of  the  sprinkling  of 
the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  to  suit  their  members  of  the 
publishing  committee,  but  little  knowledge  of  "  the  covenant 
that  was  confirmed  of  God  in  Christ "'  can  be  gleaned  from 
its  pages.  Their  denominational  press  is  faithful  to  its 
sect. 

The  (Baptist)  New  York  Recorder  cautions  his  people 
against  Shady  Side.  "  There  is  certainly  a  dark  spot  very 
prominent  in  this  excellent  book — its  fallacious  and  subtle 
advocacy  of  infant  baptism.  The  copy  which  was  recentl)'- 
placed  in  our  Sabbath  school  will  be,  of  course,  forthwith 
ejected  without  ceremony,  and  the  several  copies  which  I  have 
in  my  ignorance  given  away  must  be  forthwith  marked  as 
false  and  untrue  in  their  testimony  for  infant  baptism.'"  He 
then  warns  Baptist  churches  against  the  introduction  of  the 
books  of  Pedobaptist  booksellers  into  their  Sabbath  school 
libraries,  and  again  says,  "  A  brother  minister  informed  me 
the  other  day.  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  arrest  the  cir- 
culation in  his  school  of  the  "  Broken  Bud.-"  because  upon 
29 


338  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

examination  he  found   it  to  contain  the   error  of  Pedobap- 
tism."  * 

Such,  consequently,  is  the  difficulty  by  which  a  Baptist  is 
beset  in  knowing  any  thing  beyond  the  instructions  of  the 
teachers  of  his  own  denomination,  together  with  their  books, 
magazines,  and  papers.  If  the  Broken  Bud,  Shady  Side, 
and  all  such  books  as  maintain  infant  baptism,  are  carefully 
excluded  from  their  people,  — 

"  What  can   they   reason  but  from  what  they  know  "  ? 

Another  sectarian  feature,  subservient  to  increase,  is  their 
almost  constantly  dwelling  on  regeneration,  which,  with  all 
its  untold  importance,  does  not  constitute  "  the  whole  counsel 
of  God,"  especially  where  frames  and  feelings  are  supposed 
to  be  the  one  thing  needful,  and  the  only  sure  evidence  of 
its  existence,  preparatory  to  immersion. f 

Another  collateral  force  in  sectarian  accumulation  among 
this  division  is,  the  idea  of  the  reproach  of  the  cross,  which 
is  supposed  by  them  peculiarly  to  belong  to  immersion.  This 
gives  vitality  to  courage  and  decision  to  character,  when  un- 
dergone before  a  multitude.  Nor  is  the  enthusiasm  inspired 
by  example  in  vain  in  the  same  cause.  As  the  nun  on  the 
gala  day  of  her  initiation  to  all  that  lies  beyond  the  vail  in 
the  mysteries  of  Popery  becomes  "  the  observed  of  all  obser- 
vers," so  no  inconsiderable  fragment  of  the  same  mantle,  it 
may  be,  falls  on  the  candidate  for  immersion,  when  he,  or 
she,  before  an  assembly,  follows  Christ  (in  their  sectarian 
phraseology)  into  "  a  watery  grave,"  not  to  remain  there  three 
days  and  three  nights,  but  a  few  seconds,  or  long  enough,  at 
most,  to  pray  and  to  impose  hands.     As  in  the  one  case,  a 

*  Puritan  Recorder,  August  18,  1853. 

t  Said  a  Baptist  lady  once  to  a  member  of  my  former  pastoral  charge, 
**  "Whether  does  your  minister  admit,  on  catechism  or  on  experience  ?  " 
With  profound  amazement,  she  received  the  reply,  "  On  both."  She 
had  then,  at  least,  exercised  herself  in  a  thing  too  high  for  her.  —  Psalm 
cxxxi.  1. 


APPENDIX.  339 

return  to  the  duties  of  social  life  would,  for  many  reasons,  be 
a  matter  of  difficulty,  so  a  return  to  true  views  of  this  ordi- 
nance, as  to  its  subjects  and  mode,  would  meet  with  many 
hinderances  where  (as  in  this  case  always)  men  believe  too  little. 
It  would  require  a  total  change  of  their  church  government 
to  become  a  Presbyterian  or  an  Episcopalian,  and  a  change 
of  some  magnitude  to  become,  from  what  at  immersion  they 
were,  to  be  simply  an  Orthodox  Congregationalist,*  as  they 
must  then  believe  more  of  the  Bible,  viz.,  those  parts  of  it 
which  belong  to  the  subject  and  mode  of  baptism  which  they 
had  previously  rejected. 

Again :  among  this  branch  of  those  who  believe  too  little, 
the  alteration  of  our  common  translation  of  the  Bible  for 
sectarian  purposes,  while  it  elicits  the  jeers  of  infidelity,  will 
soon  have,  nay,  it  has  already  had,  and  must  prospectively 
have,  a  vast  influence  both  in  unsettling  the  minds  of  multi- 
tudes in  relation  to  the  authority  of  the  word  of  God,  and  in 
increasing  the  numbers  of  Baptists. ' 

Thus  varied  influences  —  the  rejection  of  the  common  trans- 
lation of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  the  rejection  of  ruling  elders 
and  presbyterial  authority  in  the  house  of  God  \  the  influences 
of  human  hymns  with  corresponding  music  ;  the  want  of 
sound  doctrinal  knowledge,  so  generally  prevalent  even  where 

*  Between  the  sects  in  this  division  and  the  Universalist  Congrega- 
tionalists,  some  considerable  agreement  is  discovered,  as  neither  of  them 
publicly  bring  their  children  into  the  temple  of  God,  nor  vow,  before  the 
rulers  of  an  assembled  church  and  the  King  of  Zion,  to  train  up  their 
little  ones  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  This  diminishes 
vastly  the  burden  of  parental  responsibility,  where  children  are  turned 
over  to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  the  heathen,  and  are,  in  parental 
estimation,  "unclean;"  and  the  only  congregation  of  Universalists, 
of  which  I  remember  having  heard,  (some  where  in  Missouri,)  who 
considered  baptism  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  observed  at  all,  ad- 
mitted members  to  their  fellowship  by  immersion.  Another  sect  of 
Congregationalists,  strongly  assimilated  to  the  self-styled  Unitarians, 
separate  themselves  by  the  name  of  Christians,  or,  according  to  their 
neighbors,  Christ-ians,  practise  immersion  and  reject  infant  baptism. 


340  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

the  Bible  may  be  read ;  the  fallacious  and  unscriptural  opin- 
ions and  unauthorized  practices  among  all  Episcopalians,  and 
among  many  partially  informed  and  unsound  Presbyterians, 
in  relation  to  the  right  of  infants  to  baptism ;  the  neglect  of 
the  performance  of  parental  vows  by  many  who  believe  that 
parental  faith  and  visible  union  to  the  church  of  Christ  are 
prerequisites  to  the  reception  of  this  ordinance ;  the  want  of 
earnest  contending  for  this  article  of  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints  by  those  who  profess  to  preach  Christ  crucified ', 
the  prostitution,  in  short,  of  this  ordinance  to  unworthy 
parents  ;  the  rejection  of  the  positive  institution  of  sprinkling 
with  clean  water,  as  emblematical  of  the  sprinkling  of  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  for  supposed  examples ;  the  ease  with 
which  their  ministry  can  be  entered,  and  the  constant  changes 
which  their  ministers  or  people  can  almost  at  pleasure  effect 
in  the  pastoral  relation ;  the  agency  of  their  Sabbath  schools, 
protracted  meetings,  and  anxious  seats ;  the  expurgated  char- 
acter of  their  books,  where  any  thing  which  does  not  support 
the  peculiar  rite  of  their  denomination  is  discovered,  and 
many  other  appliances,  —  all  go  to  swell  their  numbers  among 
this  division  of  those  who  believe  too  little. 


c. 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  understand  the  doctrine  of 
"  apostolical  succession,"  I  take  the  following  summary  of  it 
rfom  the  "  addenda "  made  "  by  a  Presbyter  of  Ohio  n  to  the 
"official  calendar  of  the  church,"  of  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Boys, 
Dean  of  Canterbury,  was  the  author :  ■ — 

"  Those  who  doubt  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  minis- 
ters and  sacraments  in  the  Christian  church  must  also  doubt 
the  authenticity  of  the  Bible  itself,  which,  passing  through 


APPENDIX.  341 

the  hands  of  so  many  copyists,  was  as  liable  to  corruption  as 
the  sacraments  and  ministry. 

"  No  single  name  can  be  exhibited  in  the  long  list  of  the 
bishops  from  the  present  time  up  to  Archbishop  Parker,  the 
regularity  of  whose  ordination  can  be  doubted.  And  as  we 
ascend  from  the  period  of  the  reformation,  through  the  early 
ages  of  the  English  church,  to  the  apostles'  own  times,  there 
can  be  brought  forward  no  isolated  instance  of  infidelity  in 
preserving  and  handing  down,  uncorrupt  and  unchanged,  the 
sacred  deposits  received  at  the  apostles' hands  —  the  Bible, 
the  sacraments,  and  the  ministry. 

11  The  sacraments  and  ministry  were  preserved  among  them 
unchanged  and  pure,  in  the  year  633,  when  they  were  visited 
by  Augustin ;  and  Calvin  not  only  acknowledged  their 
fidelity  in  preserving  these  things,  but  negotiated  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  procure  the  ministerial  succes- 
sion for  the  churches  of  Geneva,  and  failed  in  his  end  in  con- 
sequence of  the  wars  and  political  commotions  of  his  time. 
The  Lutherans,  like  Calvin,  were  unable,  owing  to  the 
troubled  state  of  Europe,  to  obtain  and  keep  up  the  episco- 
pal succession ;  and  although  they  still  retain  the  office,  they 
have  not  the  tactual  succession,  but  derive  their  ordination 
through  the  second  order  of  the  ministry  —  what  would  be 
called  :  ruling  elders.'  The  Methodist  Episcopal  church  pre- 
served the  office,  although  they  could  not  get  the  outward 
divine  commission  in  tactual  succession.  The  tactual  suc- 
cession of  the  Presbyterian  church  is  involved  in  much  ob- 
scurity during  the  reformation,  and  cannot  be  traced  beyond 
that  period.  Calvin  proceeded  to  preach  without  any  recorded 
ordination. 

u  The  Protestant  Episcopal  church  of  America  has  received 
her  authority,  as  Christ's  agent  and  representative,  through 
three  distinct  channels,  all  emanating  from  Jerusalem,  and 
combining  in  England.  The  first  by  the  apostle  who  carried 
the  gospel  into  Britain  in  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation. The  second  coming  through  Aries  in  France,  the 
29* 


342  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

church  of  France  planted  by  apostolic  hands  and  in  the  year 
632,  giving  the  episcopate  to  Augustin,"  (said  to  be  the  first 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,)  "who,  although  the  expense  of 
his  mission  was  borne  by  Gregory  the  Great,  did  not  go  to 
Italy  for  consecration,  but  was  consecrated  in  Aries.  The 
third,  which  in  latter  times  was  derived  through  the  Italian 
church  by  the  consecration  of  one  of  the  English  bishops  in 
Italy,  prior  to  the  reformation. 

"  The  church  of  Rome  has  not  corrupted  the  succession, 
but  the  doctrine  which  she  delivers  us.  We  should  not  be 
ashamed  of  the  '  royal  priesthood,'  even  though  it  be  in 
Rome.  We  do  not  sutler  much  by  the  addition  of  the  Italian 
succession,  which  is  lost  and  mingled  among  the  others,  and 
is  the  addition  of  one  bishop  to  a  church  which  already  had 
scores  of  them.  Gilbert  Sheldon,  while  Bishop  of  London, 
consecrated  James  Sharpe  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews/"'  (the 
first  Scottish  prelate.)  "  Robert  Kilgour,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen, 
and  primus  of  the  Scottish  church,  consecrated  Samuel  Sea- 
bury  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  first  bishop  of  the  American 
church,  November  14,  1784.  John  Mogre,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  consecrated  William  White  Bishop  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, second  bishop  of  the  American  church,  February  4, 
1787.  A  succession  of  bishops  may  also  be  traced  from  St. 
James,  the  first  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  to  the  American  bishops, 
viz.,  in  the  see  of  Jerusalem  to  John  III.,  the  fifty-first  bishop, 
who,  in  the  year  523,  consecrated  David  Archbishop  of  St. 
David's,  in  Wales,  and  in  the  see  of  St.  David's  to  the  present 
time,  or  to  the  period  of  the  reformation,  when  it  comes 
through  Matthew  Parker  and  his  associates."    (Pp.  116-120.) 

"A  threefold  cord"  (but  especially  a  fourfold  one)  "is  not 
quickly  broken."  (Ecc.  iv.  12.)  While  the  author  of  the 
u  addenda  "  speaks  so  covertly  of  "  the  Italian  church,"  I 
am  not  sure  that  he  escapes  the  imprecation  written  in  Deuter- 
onomy xxvii.  16.  As  the  Bible  tells  us  nothing  about  an 
apostle  carrying  prelacy  into  Britain,  nor  any  thing  about  a 
tactual   episcopate   being  given  to  Augustin  at  Aries,  and 


APPENDIX.  343 

equally  little  about  the  connection  of  u  the  American  bishops  " 
and  the  see  of  St.  David's,  so  of  all  probabilities  in  relation 
to  the  '-tactual  succession"  that  channel  appears  most  plau- 
sible in  which  the  names  of  Thomas  Cranmer,  Reginald  Pole, 
and  Matthew  Parker  are  found  —  that  which  comes  through 
the  church  of  Rome ;  and  let  us  look  at  this. 

Peter  was  called  first  (or  next  to  Andrew,  his  brother)  to 
the  apostolic  office.  Being  naturally  of  a  forward  and  ready 
disposition  both  in  duty  and  in  sin,  he  was  the  subject  of 
personal  address  both  by  his  Savior  and  his  fellow-apostles, 
as  well  as  speaker  on  their  behalf,  more  frequently  than  any 
of  the  other  disciples.  When  the  popular  curiosity  was  ex- 
cited to  know  who  Jesus  was,  and  when  the  question  was 
proposed  to  the  twelve,  he  readily  responded  on  their  behalf 
and  his  own,  avowing  the  essential  divinity  of  his  Lord,  who, 
addressing  him  with  them,  called  him  a  stone,  a  partaker  of 
the  same  nature  with  the  great  and  living  Rock,  the  Rock  of 
offence,  the  Rock  of  ages,  and  that  Rock  was  Christ,  (not 
Peter;)  giving  to  him  in  common  with  the  rest,  on  whose  be- 
half he  had  answered,  power  in  the  church  of  the  living 
God,  which  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,  and  saying, 
"  I  will,"  not,  I  do  now,  but  "  I  will,"  when  I  am  ready  to  as- 
cend unto  my  Father,  and  to  send  down  the  Holy  Comforter, 
"give  unto  you  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  The 
same  impetuosity  led  him  soon  after  to  "  rebuke  "  his  Master, 
(Matt.  xvi.  22.)  and  drew  down  upon  him  language  at  variance 
with  every  idea  of  infallibility.  "  Satan,  thou  savorest  not 
the  things  that  be  of  God,"  led  him  to  the  denial  of  his  Lord, 
and  blackened  his  soul  with  perjury.  (Matt.  xxvi.  72.)  The 
other  apostles,  as  well  as  he,  and  equally  with  him.  were  offi- 
cially assured,  so  long  as  they  should  "behave  themselves  in 
the  house  of  God,"  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on  earth  shall 
be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth 
shall  be  loosed  in  heaven." 

He  was  the  first  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  Jews ;  to  him 
was  the  apostleship  of  the  circumcision  committed ;  and  as  a 


344  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

co-presbyter  with  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  he,  above  ten 
years  after  the  day  of  Pentecost,  labored  in  word  and  doc- 
trine as  an  elder  at  Jerusalem,  where  he  was  visited  by  Paul. 
(1  and  2  Galatians.)  When,  fourteen  years  afterwards,  Paul 
revisited  him  at  Jerusalem,  (not  at  Rome,)  he  was  in  that  city 
with  James  and  John,  laboring  still  in  word  and  doctrine, 
preaching  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ;  and  when  (some 
years  later)  he  came  to  Antioch,  Paul  "withstood  him  to  the 
face,  because  he  wTas  to  be  blamed  "  for  his  dissimulation. 

Not  only  was  he  one  of  the  three  which  attended  our  Lord 
at  his  transfiguration,  but  he  was  the  first  to  draw  a  sword  in 
defence  of  his  Master  when  he  was  apprehended  by  his  be- 
trayers and  murderers.  He  was  also  the  first  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  as  well  as  the  apostle  of  the  Jews  ;  yet 
he  declares  himself  to  be  only  an  elder,  not  a  pope.  He  does 
not  command,  or  issue  "  bulls,"  to  the  simple  faithful,  but 
exhorts  the  elders  who  labored  among  those  who  were  'f  elect 
to  obedience  and  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,"  to 
feed  the  flock  of  God,  as  "  ensamples,"  and  warns  them 
against  being  "  lords  over  God's  heritage."  And  he  does  this, 
disclaiming  every  shadow  of  prelatic  power,  acting  simply  as 
an  elder.  "  The  elders  which  are  among  you  I  exhort,  who 
am  also  an  elder." 

Admitting,  then,  that  he  possessed  all  the  power,  office, 
and  honor  of  an  apostle,  which  he  unquestionably  had,  this 
does  not  prove  that  he  alone  was  (or  that  his  successors  in 
office,  if  he  had  any,  were)  possessed  of  absolute  ecclesias- 
tical power;  for  it  was  promised  concerning  Christ,  "  I  will 
lay  upon  his  shoulder  the  key  of  the  house  of  David,"  (the. 
emblem  of  power,  both  of  ordination  and  of  rule  ;)  and  this 
power  Christ  gave  in  an  equal  degree  to  all  his  apostles. — 
Matt,  xviii.  18. 

Hence  all  believers,  saints,  and  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus 
"are  built  on  the  foundation,"  not  of  Peter  alone,  but  of  all 
"the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ""  (not  Peter)  "being 
the  chief  corner  stone."     And  the  church  of  God  (Rev.  xxi. 


APPENDIX.  D45 

14)  has  (in  the  language  of  prophecy)  "twelve  foundations," 
and  in  them  not  the  name  of  Peter  as  Pope  of  Rome  alone, 
but  "  the  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb." 

This  totally  excludes  Peter  from  any  prelatical  preeminence, 
especially  such  as  is  claimed  for  him  by  the  Papal  church, 
and  assigns  to  him  his  position  as  an  elder,  precisely  on  that 
parity,  and  yet  official  superiority,  which  are  given  to  the  oldest 
ruling  elder  in  a  session,  or  to  the  minister  oldest  in  office  in 
a  presbytery,  and  nothing  more,  the  ipse  dixit  of  the  Vatican 
notwithstanding.  As  to  a  successor  in  office,  Judas  alone 
had  one.  About  Cletus  and  Anacletus  the  Bible  says  nothing, 
although  the  apostle  John  outlived,  according  to  the  prelatic 
genealogies,  two  or  three  popes. 

My  faith  must  lose  its  cohesiveness,  and  be  cast  in  a  mould 
of  greater  diameter  and  periphery  than  it  is  at  present,  in 
view  of  these  genealogies,  before  I  can  undoubtedly  believe 
that  a  "  tactual  succession  "  has  in  all  the  above-mentioned 
cases  taken  place  ;  and  its  expansion  must  then  be  much  in- 
creased before  I  can  believe  that  a  tactual  succession  is  in 
the  specific  form  of  prelacy  authorized  by  the  word  of  God. 

That  "the  tactual  succession  of  the  Presbyterian  church  is 
involved  in  much  obscurity  during  the  reformation,"  is  true  ; 
and  yet  "  it  can  be  traced  beyond  that  period,"  traced  where 
prelacy  had  no  existence  —  to  the  primitive  apostolic  church. 
Thus  by  the  "  tactual  succession,"  communicated  by  Simeon 
Niger,  Lucius,  and  Manaen,  and  probably  u  certain "  other 
"  prophets  and  teachers,  which  were  in  the  church  that  was 
at  Antioch,"  Barnabas  and  Saul  were  separated  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry.  "  And  when  they  had  fasted,  and  prayed, 
and  laid  their  hands  on  them,  they  sent  them  away,  they 
being  sent  forth  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  (Acts  xiii.)  Timothy, 
at  least,  among  the  early  Presbyterians,  received  the  "tactual 
succession  "  by  "  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presby- 
tery." (1  Tim.  iv.  14.)  Let  prelacy  show,  from  the  word  of 
God,  that  any  other  "  tactual  succession  "  was  given  to  Linus. 
"  Try  the  spirits," 


346  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


D. 


True,  whether  we  look  north  or  south.  The  germ  of  our 
national  republic  is  found  in  the  following  persecution:  — 

"  Mr.  Francis  Makemie  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first 
Presbyterian  minister  in  this  country.  The  following  extract 
presents  in  brief  the  persecution  he  encountered  in  New 
York,  in  1707,  from  the  then  established  (Episcopal)  religion. 
A  fuller  account  may  be  found  in  Smith's  History  of  New 
York. 

"  Mr.  Makemie  was  a  bold  man  ;  and  it  would  seem  that  he 
was  willing  to  endure  all  things  for  the  elect's  sake,  that  they 
might  also  obtain  the  salvation  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  with 
eternal  glory.  I  have  heretofore  alluded  to  the  persecution 
which  he  suffered  in  New  York.  He  reached  that  city  in  the 
month  of  January,  1707.  From  the  season  of  the  year,  we 
conclude  certainly  that  he  made  the  journey  by  land,  and 
not  coastwise  ;  and  from  the  missionary  spirit  of  the  man, 
there  is  no  doubt  he  preached  the  truth  all  along  the  way. 
He  was  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  John  Hampton,  afterwards 
the  settled  pastor  of  the  church  at  Snowhill.  There  were,  at 
that  time,  in  New  York,  Dutch  and  French  Calvinists,  Episco- 
palians, and  Irish  Presbyterians.  The  Presbyterians  had 
neither  meeting  house  nor  minister.  Messrs.  Makemie  and 
Hampton  had,  with  the  consent  of  the  congregation,  or  their 
representatives,  preached  certainly  once,  perhaps  many  times, 
in  the  Dutch  church  ;  but  on  a  particular  Sabbath  day,  Mr. 
Makemie  preached  in  a  private  house  with  open  doors,1*  and 
Mr.  Hampton  preached  at  New  Town.  By  the  order  of  the 
governor,  they  were  both  arrested  the  same  week  at  New 

•  ",I  have  seen  it  stated  some  where  that  he  also  baptized  a  child. 
I  have  no  evidence  of  the  fact.  It  may  have  been  mentioned  in  the 
pamphlet  referred  to  in  my  last  letter  ;  but  it  was  not  noticed  in  the 
prosecution  afterwards  instituted  against  him." 


APPENDIX.  347 

Town,  and  carried  before  his  lordship,  who  reprimanded  them 
severely;  but  they  withstood  the  ferocity  of  his  temper  and  man- 
ner with  undaunted  firmness.  The  charge  preferred  against 
them  was,  that  they  had  violated  those  British  statutes  which 
relate  to  dissenters  and  dissenting  teachers.  Mr.  Makemie 
replied  with  great  power  to  the  arguments  of  the  attorney 
general,  and  proved  conclusively,  that  those  obnoxious  laws 
were  not  intended  for  that  province,  and  therefore  did  not  ex- 
tend to  it.  His  lordship  replied,  that  they  had  nevertheless 
committed  an  offence  against  his  instructions,  and  accordingly 
committed  them  to  prison  to  await  the  return  of  the  chief  jus- 
tice from  New  Jersey.  When  they  were  arraigned  before  the 
court,  the  governor,  becoming  convinced  that  the  indictments 
found  could  not  be  sustained,  changed  entirely  the  character 
of  the  offence  charged.  They  gave  bail  for  their  appearance 
at  the  next  term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  were  discharged 
after  an  imprisonment  of  almost  seven  weeks'  duration.  The 
grand  jury,  which  next  acted  upon  the  case,  found  no  bill 
against  Mr.  Hampton;  but  on  the  sixth  day  of  June  in  the 
same  year,  Mr.  Makemie  was  tried  upon  an  indictment,  the 
substance  of  which  was  in  the  following  words :  '  That 
Francis  Makemie,  pretending  himself  to  be  a  Protestant  dis- 
senting minister,  condemning  and  endeavoring  to  subvert  the 
queen's  ecclesiastical  supremacy,  unlawfully  preached,  with- 
out the  governor's  license  first  obtained,  in  derogation  of  the 
royal  authority  and  prerogative  ;  and  that  he  used  other  cere- 
monies and  rites  than  those  contained  in  the  common  prayer 
book ;  and  lastly,  that  he,  being  unqualified  to  preach,  did 
preach  at  an  illegal  conventicle.'  The  two  last  charges  were 
said  to  be  contrary  to  the  forms  of  the  statutes.  The  people 
took  deep  interest  in  the  trial,  for  very  precious  rights  were 
involved,  and  the  most  learned  and  eminent  members  of  the 
provincial  bar  were  engaged  in  it.  The  court  favored  the 
prosecution,  but  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  'not  guilty.' 
Notwithstanding  his  acquittal,  his  bail  was  not  discharged 
until  he  had  paid  the  whole  cost  of  the  prosecution,  amounting 


848  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

to  the  sum  of  eighty-three  pounds  seven  shillings  and  sixpence  ! 
More  grievous  oppression,  or  more  unrighteous  extortion, 
never  disgraced  the  government  of  any  tyrant. 

"The  deep  injuries  inflicted  on  Mr.  Makemie  had  a  power- 
ful effect  upon  the  people.  They  saw  for  the  first  time  their 
chief  magistrate  in  his  true  character  J  they  saw  that  invalu- 
able rights,  the  rights  of  conscience,  were  in  danger ;  and  a 
legislative  assembly,  convened  on  the  8th  of  November, 
i708,  spoke  to  the  offender  in  language  not  to  be  misunder- 
stood. In  one  of  a  series  of  resolutions,  they  denounced  the 
extortion  practised  upon  Mr.  Makemie  in  the  following  words : 
*  Resolved,  that  the  compelling  any  man  upon  trial,  by  a  jury 
or  otherwise,  to  pay  any  fees  for  his  prosecution,  or  any  thing 
whatsoever,  unless  the  fees  of  the  officers  whom  he  employs 
for  his  necessary  defence,  is  a  great  grievance,  and  contrary 
to  justice.'7* 

This  was  the  "  little  cloud,  not  bigger  than  a  man's  hand," 
which  eventually  assembled  the  Mecklenburg,  North  Carolina, 
convention,  in  May,  1 775,  and  caused  the  declaration  of  in- 
dependence in  1776,  with  all  their  untold  results.  Secondary 
and  subordinate  matters,  of  course,  conspired  to  the  great  is- 
sue, but  this  persecution  occupied  the  primary  place,  not 
simply  claiming  redress,  as  did  taxation  without  representa- 
tion, in  the  stamp  act  and  other  oppresshfe  forms,  but  crying 
for  vengeance  to  the  Judge  of  the  oppressed. 

Corroborative  of  the  position  of  the  historian  (Bancroft)  is 
the  fact,  that  in  almost  all  the  steps  of  the  revolution,  espe- 
cially in  its  incipient  ones,  the  Presbyterian  clergymen  were 
the  early  and  steadfast  cobperators,  if  not  the  leaders.  A  few 
specimens  of  their  prominence  1  now  give  in  proof.  Of  the 
Rev.  James  Hall,  of  North  Carolina,  it  is  said,  "  A  full  account 
of  his  actions  during  the  revolution  would  fill  a  volume  ;  his 
active,  enterprising  spirit  would  not  let  him  be  neuter;  hig 
principles,  drawn  from  the  word  of  God  and  the  doctrines  of 

*  Spenee's  Letters^ 


APPENDIX.  349 

his  church,  and  cultivated  by  Dr.  Witherspoon,  carried  him 
with  all  his  heart  to  defend  the  ground  taken  by  the  conven- 
tion in  Mecklenburg,  May,  1775,  and  by  the  Continental 
Congress  in  1776.  He  gave  his  powers  of  mind,  body,  and 
estate  to^the  cause  of  his  country.  As  the  citizens  would  as- 
semble to  hear  news  and  discuss  the  politics  of  those  trying 
times,  and  were  making  choice  of  the  side  they  would  es- 
pouse, Mr.  Hall  was  accustomed  to  meet  with  them,  and  ad- 
dressing them,  infused  his  own  spirit,  and  inflamed  their  love 
of  liberty,  and  strengthened  their  purpose  of  maintaining 
their  rights  at  all  hazards.  The  tradition  about  him,  in  these 
cases,  is,  that  he  was  eminently  successful ;  and  the  fact  that 
there  was  great  unanimity  in  that  section  of  country,  in  a 
measure  the  effect  of  his  exertions,  would  of  itself  show  that 
he  was  both  influential  and  eloquent."  * 

"  The  synod  of  New  York  was  the  very  first  body,  a  year 
before  the  declaration  of  independence,  to  declare  themselves 
in  favor  of  open  resistance,  and  to  encourage  and  guide  their 
people  then  in  arms. 

u  This  is  certainly  a  most  remarkable  fact.  i  Of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  colonies,  for  some  time  after  the  affair  at 
Lexington,  that  is,  in  1775,'  says  Mr.  Cheatham,  'few  thought, 
and  no  one  wrote.  Here  and  there  it  was  indistinctly  men- 
tioned, but  nowhere  encouraged.'  '  Independence,'  says 
Thomas  Paine,  '  was  a  doctrine  scarce  and  rare,  even  towards 
the  conclusion  of  the  year  1775.'  Even  in  October,  1775, 
when  the  news  of  the  rejection  of  the  petition  of  Congress  to 
the  king  was  received,  and  had  produced  universal  indigna- 
tion, still  even  now  few  thought  seriously  of  independence. 
The  mind  was  overpowered  by  fear  rather  than  alive  to 
safety.  And  yet  among  those  few  who  not  only  thought 
upon,  but  openly  advised  independence,  were  the  Presbyte- 
rians as  a  body  ;  they  having  openly  commended  it  months 
before  the  publication  of  Paine's  Common  Sense,  which  was 

*  Foote's  Sketches  of  North  Carolina. 

30 


350  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

not  issued  until  January,  1776,  and  which  waft  itself  the  off- 
spring of  a  suggestion  made  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  who 
was  brought  up  under  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley,  afterwards 
president  of  the  College  of  Princeton,  of  which  college  he 
became  a  graduate  under  the  presidency  of  the  Rey^  Samuel 
Davies." 

"  The  service  rendered  in  securing  the  adoption  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Witherspoon, 
a  Presbyterian  clergyman  from  Scotland,  and  also  president 
of  the  College  of  Princeton,  and  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  is  thus  graphically  described  by  Dr. 
Krebs  :  f  When  the  declaration  of  independence  was  under 
debate  in  the  Continental  Congress,  doubts  and  forebodings 
were  whispered  through  that  hall.  The  houses  hesitated, 
wavered,  and,  for  a  while,  the  liberty  and  slavery  of  the  na- 
tion appeared  to  hang  in  an  even  scale.  It  was  then  that  an 
aged  patriarch  arose,  a  venerable  and  stately  form,  his  head 
white  with  the  frosts  of  years.  Every  eye  went  to  him  with 
the  quickness  of  thought,  and  remained  with  the  fixedness 
of  the  polar  star.  He  cast  on  the  assembly  a  look  of  inex- 
pressible interest  and  unconquerable  determination,  while 
on  his  visage  the  hue  of  age  was  lost  in  the  flush  of  a  burn- 
ing patriotism  that  fired  his  cheek.  "  There  is,"'  said  he, 
when  he  saw  the  house  wavering,  —  there  is  a  tide  in  the 
affairs  of  men  —  a  nick  of  time.  We  perceive  it  now  before 
us.  To  hesitate  is  to  consent  to  our  own  slavery.  That 
noble  instrument  upon  your  table,  which  insures  immortality 
to  its  author,  should  be  subscribed  this  very  morning,  by 
every  pen  in  the  house.  He  that  will  not  respond  to  its  ac- 
cents, and  strain  every  nerve  to  carry  into  effect  its  provisions, 
is  unworthy  the  name  of  a  freeman.  For  my  own  part,  of 
property  I  have  some  —  of  reputation,  more.  That  reputation 
is  staked,  that  property  is  pledged,  on  the  issue  of  this  contest. 
And  although  these  gray  hairs  must  soon  descend  into  the 
sepulchre,  I  would  infinitely  rather  they  should  descend 
thither  by  the  hands  of  the  public  executioner  than  desert, 


APPENDIX.  351 

at  this  crisis,  the  sacred  cause  of  my  country.'"  Who  was  it 
that  uttered  this  memorable  speech,  potent  in  turning  the 
scales  of  the  nation's  destiny,  and  worthy  to  be  preserved  in 
the  same  imperishable  record  in  which  is  registered  the  not 
more  eloquent  speech  ascribed  to  John  Adams,  on  the  same 
sublime  occasion  ?  It  was  John  Witherspoon,  at  that  day  the 
most  distinguished  Presbyterian  minister  west  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  — the  father  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  United 
States." '"  —  Dr.  Smyth. 

Again :  in  the  synod  of  New  England,  (which  had  then 
three  presbyteries  in  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts.) 
at  their  meeting  at  Londonderry,  September  4,  1776.  -the 
question  being  put.  whether  any  suspected  to  be  inimical  to 
the  liberties  of  the  independent  states  of  America,  which 
they  are  now  contending  for,  and  refuses  to  declare  his  at- 
tachment to  the  same,  should  have  a  seat  in  this  judicature  : 
voted,  they  should  not." 

Not  only  did  they  there  and  then  declare  their  '-'approval 
of  the  declaration  of  independence  lately  published  by  the 
American  colonies.*'  but  also  deposed  from  ministerial  and 
Christian  standing  the  Rev.  John  Morrison,  who  had  u  been 
under  ecclesiastical  proceedings,  and  had  then  eloped  to  the 
ministerial  army,  and  shamefully  behaved  himself. *"  To 
this  that  synod  then  added,  "  As  the  Rev.  John  Houston  is 
suspected  as  inimical  to  the  states  of  America.*'*  he  has  to 
promise  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  civil  authorities,  and  his 
presbytery  must  certify  to  this  synod  that  he  has  also  satisfied 
them/'  Various  other  proofs  of  a  similar  character  in  rela- 
tion to  Presbyterian  clergymen  might  be  here  adduced,  but 
I  shall  only  further  mention  one  at  the  Ultima  Tkule  of  the  re- 
volted colonies. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  presbytery  of  the  Eastward,  at  Pownal- 
toro*.  on  October  21,  1777,  ';  Colonel  Reed  reported  that  the 
situation  of  the  Rev.  John  Murray's  dwelling,  the  particular 
vengeance  threatened  by  the  common  enemy  against  him, 
and  the  large  reward  of  five  hundred  pounds  sterling  offered 


352  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

by  them  to  any  person  that  shall  deliver  him  up,  render  his 
longer  residence  in  Boothbay,  at  this  juncture,  exceedingly 
dangerous."  —  Minutes  of  that  date. 

Nor  were  the  ruling  eldership  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
less  unanimous  in  the  struggle.  Says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smyth, 
of  South  Carolina,  "  The  battles  of  the  Cowpens,  of  King's 
Mountain,  and  also  the  severe  skir/nish  known  as  Huck's 
Defeat,  are  among  the  most  celebrated  in  this  state,  as  giving 
a  turning  point  to  the  contest  of  the  revolution.  General 
Morgan,  who  commanded  at  the  Cowpens,  was  a  Presbyterian 
elder,  and  lived  and  died  in  the  communion  of  the  church. 
General  Pickens,  who  made  all  the  arrangements  for  the 
battle,  was  also  a  Presbyterian  elder.  And  nearly  all  under 
their  command  were  Presbyterians.  In  the  battle  of  King's 
Mountain,  Colonel  Campbell,  Colonel  James  Williams,  (who 
fell  in  action,)  Colonel  Cleaveland,  Colonel  Shelby,  and 
Colonel  Sevier,  were  all  Presbyterian  elders  ;  and  the  body 
of  their  troops  were  collected  from  Presbyterian  settlements. 
At  Huck's  Defeat,  in  York,  Colonel  Bratton  and  Major  Dick- 
son were  both  elders  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  Major 
Samuel  Morrow,  who  was  with  Colonel  Sumpter  in  four  en- 
gagements, and  at  King's  Mountain,  Blackstock,  and  other 
battles,  and  whose  home  was  in  the  army  till  the  termination 
of  hostilities,  was,  for  about  fifty  years,  a  ruling  elder  in  the 
Presbyterian  church. 

"  These  facts  we  have  collected  from  high  authority,  and 
they  deserve  to  be  prominently  noticed.  Here  are  ten  officers 
of  distinction,  all  bearing  rule  in  the  church  of  Christ,  and 
all  bearing  arms  in  defence  of  our  liberties.  Braver  or  better 
officers  cannot  be  found  in  the  annals  of  our  country,  nor 
braver  or  better  troops.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  in  this 
connection,  that  Marion,  Huger,  and  other  distinguished  men 
of  revolutionary  memory,  were  of  Huguenot,  that  is,  full- 
blooded  Presbyterian,  descent. 

u  Joseph  Reed,  the  military  secretary  of  Washington,  at 
Cambridge,     adjutant    general    of    the    continental    army, 


APPENDIX.  353 

member  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  president 
of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  — 
Joseph  Reed,  in  whom,  more  than  in  any  other  man,  General 
Washington  confided,  was  the  son  and  grandson  of  Irish 
Presbyterians.  His  grandfather  came  from  Carrickfergus. 
His  father  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Third  Presbyterian 
church,  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia.  He  was  educated  at 
Princeton.  l  He  was  firmly  attached  to  the  Presbyterian 
church,  in  which  he  had  been  educated.  In  one  of  his  pub- 
lications, when  far  advanced  in  life,  he  said  of  it,  "  When  I 
am  convinced  of  its  errors,  or  ashamed  of  its  character,  I 
may  perhaps  change  it.  Till  then  I  shall  not  blush  at  a  con- 
nection with  a  people,  who,  in  this  great  controversy,  are  not 
second  to  any  in  vigorous  exertions  and  generous  contribu- 
tions, and  to  whom  we  are  so  eminently  indebted  for  our 
deliverance  from  the  thraldom  of  Great  Britain/' ' " 

That  the  people  were  unanimous  with  the  ministers  and 
elders  we  have  ample  proof.  "  Mr.  Reed,  of  Philadelphia, 
himself  an  Episcopalian,  in  a  published  address,  remarks, 
1  The  part  taken  by  the  Presbyterians  in  the  contest  with  the 
mother  country,  was  indeed  at  the  time  often  made  a  ground 
of  reproach ;  and  the  connection  between  their  efforts  for  the 
security  of  their  religious  liberty,  and  opposition  to  the  op- 
pressive measures  of  Parliament,  was  then  distinctly  seen. 
Mr.  Galloway,  a  prominent  advocate  of  the  government,  as- 
cribed, in  1774,  the  revolt  and  revolution  mainly  to  the  action 
of  the  Presbyterian  clergy  and  laity  as  early  as  1764,  when 
the  proposition  for  a  general  synod  emanated  from  a  com- 
mittee appointed  for  that  purpose,  in  Philadelphia.  Another 
writer  of  the  same  period  says,  c  You  will  have  discovered 
that  I  am  no  friend  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  that  I  fix  all 
the  blame  of  these  extraordinary  American  proceedings 
upon  them.' 

"'A  Presbyterian  loyalist,'  adds  Mr.  Reed,  'was  a  thing 
unheard  of.'  Patriotic  clergymen  of  the  established  church 
were  exceptions  to  general  conduct ;  for  while  they  were 
30* 


354 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


patriots  at  a  sacrifice,  and  in  spite  of  restraint  and  imaginary 
obligations,  which  many  found  it  impossible  to  disregard,  it 
was  natural  sympathy  and  voluntary  action  that  placed  the 
dissenters  under  the  banner  of  revolutionary  redress.  It  is  a 
sober  judgment,  which  cannot  be  questioned,  that  had  inde- 
pendence and  its  maintenance  depended  on  the  approval  and 
ready  sanction  of  the  colonial  Episcopal  clergy,  misrule  and 
oppression  must  have  become  far  more  intense  before  they 
would  have  seen  a  case  of  justifiable  revolution.  The  debt 
of  gratitude  which  independent  America  owes  to  the  dissent- 
ing clergy  and  laity  never  can  be  paid. 

'•  The  testimony  of  an  Episcopalian  is  corroborated  by  Dr. 
Elliot,  the  editor  of  the  organ  of  the  Methodist  church  in  the 
west,  in  noticing  an  attack  made  on  the  Presbyterians  by 
Bishop  Purcell :  k'  The  Presbyterians.'  says  he,  '  of  every 
class,  were  prominent,  and  even  foremost,  in  achieving  the 
liberties  of  the  United  States  ;  and  they  have  been  all  along  the 
leading  supporters  of  constitution,  and  law,  and  good  order. 
They  have  been  the  pioneers  of  learning  and  sound  knowl- 
edge from  its  highest  to  its  lowest  grade,  and  are  now  its 
principal  supporters.'  " 

u  During  the  continuance  of  the  revolutionary  war,"  says 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Smyth,  "  the  Presbyterian  body  sustained  and 
invigorated  the  forces  of  their  beleaguered  country,  so  that 
Presbyterians  were  every  where  treated  with  special  cruelty 
and  revenge ;  *  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  they  again  ad- 
dressed their  people,  and  offered  up  praise  to  God,  who  had 
given  them  the  victory." 

The  standards,  also,  which  gave  to  this  people  (under  the 
blessing  of  God)  their  peculiarities,  were  the  antitype  from 

*  Says  Kendall,  in  his  unfinished  history  of  General  Jackson,  "  The 
British  officer  who  marched  his  troops  into  the  settlement  of  Waxhaw, 
South  Carolina,  burned  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  the  house  of  the 
preacher,  and  every  Bible  he  could  lay  his  hands  on  containing  the 
Scotch  translation  of  the  Psalms  of  David."  —  Christian  Instructor, 
Philadelphia,  Vol.  IV.  p.  217- 


APPENDIX.  355 

which  has  arisen  our  representative  republicanism.  Hence 
says  the  Rev.  Mr.  Junkin,  "  After  the  conflict  was  over, 
and  the  sages  of  America  came  to  settle  the  forms  of  our 
government,  they  did  but  copy  into  every  constitution  the 
simple  elements  of  representative  republicanism,  as  found  in 
the  Presbyterian  system.  It  is  matter  of  history  that  cannot 
be  denied,  that  Presbyterianism,  as  found  in  the  Bible,  and 
in  the  standards  of  the  several  Presbyterian  churches,  gave 
character  to  our  free  institutions.  Am  I  reminded  of  the 
glorious  part  which  New  England  Congregationalists  took  in 
our  country's  deliverance  ?  My  heart's  best  feelings  kindle 
at  the  recollection  :  and  in  according  to  New  England  all  the 
glory  that  she  has  so  well  earned,  T  yield  not  my  position,  for 
New  England  ■'  (was  then)  •'*' substantially  Presbyterian.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  after  witnessing  the 
sad  effects  of  simple  Independency  in  their  own  land,  had 
been  nursed  in  the  bosom,  and  had  drank  of  the  spirit,  of 
Presbyterian  Holland  and  Geneva,  before  they  reached  the 
rock  of  Plymouth,  and  from  the  very  first  their  institutions 
partook  of  the  Presbyterian  form.''  * 

"  We  have  the  authority,  also,  of  the  late  Chief  Justice 
Tilghman  for  stating  that  the  framers  of  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States  were  (chiefly  through  the  agency  of  Dr. 
Witherspoon,  who  was  one  of  them)  greatly  indebted  to  the 
standards  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Scotland,  in  model- 
ling that  admirable  instrument,  under  which  we  have  enjoyed 
more  than  half  a  century  of  unparalleled  national  prosperity."7 

a  And  still  further,  the  Hon.  W.  C.  Preston  has  given  pub- 
licity to  the  following  remarkable  words  :  l  Certainly  it  is 
the  most  remarkable  and  singular  coincidence,  that  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Presbyterian  church  should  bear  such  a  close 
and  striking  resemblance  to  the  political  constitution  of  our 
country.  This  may  be  regarded  as  an  earnest  of  our  beloved 
national  union.     We  fondly  regard  our  federal  constitution 

*  Dis.,  p.  28. 


356        PHILOSOPHY  OF  SECTARIANISM. 


as  the  purest  specimen  of  republican  government  that  the 
world  ever  saw  ;  and  on  the  same^pure  principles  of  repub- 
licanism, as  its  basis,  we  find  established  the  constitution  of 
this  republican  church.  The  two  may  be  supposed  to  be 
formed  after  the  same  model.'" 

"  The  venerable  and  patriotic  Mr.  Duponceau,  of  Phila- 
delphia, remarked  to  a  gentleman  known  to  the  writer,  that 
he  considered  George  Bryan,  Samuel  Adams,  and  Patrick 
Henry  the  three  men  of  the  revolution.  Now,  Mr.  Bryan, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  siamp  act  Congress  of  1765,  pres- 
ident of  Pennsylvania,  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a 
member  of  the  council'of  censors,  and  one  of  the  leading 
whig  members  of  the  new  Assembly,  was  also  a  Presbyterian. 
To  him  principally,  in  conjunction  with  a  Mr.  Cannon,  a 
schoolmaster,  is  attributed,  by  Mr.  Graydon,  the  constitution 
of  Pennsylvania.  i  These,'  says  Mr.  Graydon,  '  constituted 
the4  duumvirate  which  had  the  credit  of  framing  the  consti- 
tution, and  thence  laying,  in  Pennsylvania,  the  corner  stone 
of  that  edifice  which,  however  retarded  in  its  progress  by 
aristocratical  interferences,  towers  like  another  Babel  to  the 
skies,  and  will  continue  to  tower,  until  finally  arrested  and 
dilapidated  by  an  irremediable  confusion  of  tongues  —  for 
anarchy  ever  closes  the  career  of  democracy.'  For  a  correct 
statement  of  this  fact,  Mr.  Graydon  was  a  most  competent 
witness;  and  President  Adams,  therefore,  in  associating 
Timothy  Matlock,  Thomas  Young,  and  Thomas  Paine  in 
this  work,  was  doubtless  misinformed." 

"  From  this  constitution  we  make  the  following  extracts,  to 
show  that  this  Presbyterian  constitution  of  Pennsylvania  was 
the  first  in  the  United  Stales,  since  the  revolution,  which 
provided  for  the  complete  and  universal  toleration  of  religious 
opinions.  This  constitution  was  adopted  in  1776,  (from  July 
15  to  September  28.)  Article  II.  is  as  follows  :  '  That  all 
men  have  a  natural  and  unalienable  right  to  worship  Al- 
mighty God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences 
and  understanding ;  and  that  no  man  ought  or  can  of  right 


APPENDIX.  357 

be  compelled  to  attend  any  religious  worship,  or  erect  or 
support  any  place  of  worship,  or  maintain  any  ministry,  con- 
trary to  or  against  his  own  free  will  and  consent.  Nor  can 
any  man,  who  acknowledges  the  being  of  a  God,  be  justly 
deprived  or  abridged  of  any  civil  rights  as  a  citizen,  on  ac- 
count of  his  religious  sentiments  or  peculiar  modes  of  reli- 
gious worship ;  that  no  authority  can,  or  ought  to  be  vested  in, 
or  assumed  by  any  power  whatever,  that  shall  in  any  case 
interfere  with,  or  in  any  manner  control,  the  right  of  con- 
science in  the  free  exercise  of  religious  worship.' 

u  It  thus  appears  that  the  declaration  of  American  inde- 
pendence was  first  favored  by  the  Presbyterian  synod,  then 
the  highest  body  in  the  church;  that  the  first  actual  and  prac- 
tical declaration  of  independence  was  made  by  Presbyterians, 
in  Mecklenburgh,  North.  Carolina;  that  the  first  state  con- 
stitution made  under  that  declaration,  proclaiming  universal 
and  complete  toleration  of  religious  opinion,  was  framed  by 
a  Presbyterian  ;  and  that  the  overthrow  of  the  then  existing 
establishment  of  religion  in  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  and 
the  complete  divorce  of  the  church  and  the  state,  were  mainly 
owing  to  the  efforts  of  the  Presbyterian  church."  * 

*  Smyth's  Presbyterianism. 


358  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 


E. 

The  formation  of  character  under  each  polity  becomes  so 
marked  and  distinct,  that  if  the  way  to  true  happiness  were 
consulted  by  those  thus  trained  so  diversely,  in  the  selection  of 

"  The  plighted  partners  of  their  future  lives," 

fewer  marriages  would  be  formed  between  individuals  from 
any  two  of  these  conflicting  radical  divisions,  and  they  would 
in  wisdom  unite  only  with  those,  in  this  most  important  and 
indissoluble  union,  who  had  been  trained  alike  with  them- 
selves.    "  Can  two  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed  ?-  " 

While  he  or  she  that  "  believeth  can  have  no  part  with  an 
infidel,"  and  must,  at  the  risk  of  all  that  is  valuable,  '-marry 
only  in  the  Lord,"  still  happiness  in  this  heaven -ordained 
institution  cannot  always  be  found  by  simply  uniting  with 
one  under  the  general  name  of  Christian.  It  is  not  usually 
great  disasters  which  disturb  domestic  peace.  A  constant 
irritation  or  friction  will  destroy  the  most  delightful  social 
intercourse  ;  and  small  as  church  government  is  usually  con- 
sidered to  be,  it  will  plant  a  thorn  among  the  joys  of  wedded 
life  where  its  importance  is  not  considered,  and  its  conflicting 
influences  are  brought  into  contact.  "The  contentions  of  a 
wife"  (or  of  a  husband)  "are  a  continual  dropping." 

Those  who  enter  this  relation  in  the  visible  church  are  re- 
quired to  dwell  together  as  heirs  of  the  grace  of  life,  to  bear 
each  other's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ.  The 
religious  belief  will  usually,  if  not  invariably,  control  the 
domestic  relations,  especially  in  the  bosom  of  the  mother. 
Faith  finds  a  more  genial  home  in  the  female  heart  than  in 
the  rugged  and  calculating  soul  of  man.  A  little  captive 
maid  from  the  land  of  Israel  becomes,  by  attachment  to  the 
faith  of  her  fathers,  the  instrument  of  bringing  the  idolatrous 
commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  the  King  of  Syria  to  be 
a  worshipper  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  while   on  the  other 


APPENDIX.  359 

hand,  even  "  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  ''  could  not  withstand 
the  influences  of  female  faith  ;  "  nevertheless,  even  him  did 
outlandish  women  cause  to  sin,-'  by  bringing  him  to  their 
belief  and  debasement  in  the  pollutions  of  idolatry. 

The  influences  of  a  superabundant  faith  have  been  felt  by 
millions  of  our  race,  where  woman  has  been  devoted  to 
Popery.  How  many  households  have  been  shorn  of  their 
full  measure  of  domestic  bliss  by  that  faith  which  has  pro- 
duced and  upholds  nunneries  !  And  where  a  wife  has  her 
belief  in  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  it  adds  but 
little.  I  opine,  to  a  husband's  joys.  "What  a  spectacle  to  see 
a  father  and  a  mother  divide  their  children  according  to  the 
faith  of  each  parent,  where  Papal  prelacy  has  been  united 
with  any  of  the  forms  of  Protestantism  !  to  see  sex  doom  the 
offspring  to  superstition,  or  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  word  of 
God,  presenting,  in  this  point  of  view,  a  partial  similarity  to 
the  abominations  of  slavery,  in  which  freedom  goes  or  comes 
with  the  mother ! 

To  unite,  then,  in  marriage  those  from  this  type  of  prelacy 
with  any  other,  would  necessarily  destroy  full  domestic 
bliss.  Neither  would  the  union  of  individuals,  from  any  of 
the  sects  under  the  other  radical  divisions,  with  Protestant 
Episcopacy,  insure  domestic  peace.  Either  the  superabun- 
dance of  the  faith  of  the  one  party  must  be  abandoned,  or  the 
other,  from  natural  affection,  must  have  an  increase  of  faith, 
and  relinquish  their  former  religious  belief  to  obtain  concord. 
.Religious  faith  must  be  the  sacrifice  and  price,  and  where  it 
is  not  offered,  strife  about,  or  perchance  indifference  to,  god- 
liness and  religious  duties,  must  ensue.  The  offspring  in 
such  a  case  cannot  be  trained  up  in  the  nurture  and  admoni- 
tion of  the  Lord,  and  thus  they,  at  times,  become  the  property 
of  some  other  sect. 

Again :  when,  in  domestic  training,  one  parent  conscien- 
tiously "  honors  the  faces  of  the  elders"  of  the  church,  and  the 
other  views  their  office  as  unscriptural  and  their  visits  as  unne- 
cessary, unless  it  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  a  change  of  faith^  paren- 


360  philosophy  of  sectarianism. 

tal  harmony  in  religion,  and  even  morals,  can  but  partially 
exist.  If  the  wife  believe  too  little,  she  will  have  no  supera- 
bundant reverence  for  her  husband  ;  and  if  in  religious  mat- 
ters, where  "  all  church  power  resides  in  the  church,  and  not 
in  church  officers,"  she  does  not  submit  to  be  represented  by 
her  husband,  but  must  personally  exercise  ecclesiastical 
power  by  the  social  compact,  she  will  not,  at  home,  very 
readily,  like  "  Sarah,  obey "  her  husband,  "  calling  him  Lord." 
Hence  arise  those  unnatural  exhibitions  of  human  weak- 
ness in  which  woman  abandons  her  position,  dishonors  her 
nature,  and  becomes  an  unseemly  warrior  for  what,  in  modern 
Congregational  phraseology,  are  called  ''women's  rights." 
To  all  such,  as  they  believe  too  little,  the  charge  of  God  is 
trivial  and  valueless  —  "  Likewise,  ye  wives,  be  in  subjection 
to  your  own  husbands."  The  idea  that  their  husbands  are 
to  "  dwell  with  them  according  to  knowledge,  giving  honor 
unto  the  wife  as  unto  the  weaker  vessel,"  does  not  suit  the 
insubordinating  nature  of  this  church  polity.  With  those 
who  thus  carry  it  out  in  some  of  its  legitimate  results,  such 
directions  as  the  following  have  but  little  authority  :  "  Wives, 
submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands  as  unto  the  Lord. 
Let  the  woman  learn  in  silence  with  all  subjection.  I 
suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach  nor  to  usurp  authority  over  the 
man,  but  to  be  in  silence.  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in 
the  churches,  for  it  is  not  permitted  unto  them  to  speak;  but 
they  are  commanded  to  be  under  obedience,  and  if  they  will 
learn  any  thing,  let  them  ask  their  husbands  at  home ;  for  it 
is  a  shame  for  a  woman  to  speak  in  the  church."  Those 
women,  on  the  other  hand,  who  profess  godliness  and  believe 
the  Holy  Scriptures  without  diminution  or  increase  of  their 
contents,  not  only  readily  consent  to  these  divine  instructions, 
but  when  requested  to  enter-  into  this  relation,  which  is  "  hon- 
orable in  all,"  they  are  careful  to  "marry  only  in  the  Lord," 
and  to  be  companions  only  "  of  those  who  fear  God  and  keep 
his  precepts." 

Their  daily  observation  of  society  will  convince  such,  that 


APPENDIX.  361 

the  trials  and  sorrows,  as  well  as  the  joys,  of  married  life  are 
sure ;  that  "  such  shall  have  trouble  in  the  flesh."  Conse- 
quently, a  wise  woman  commits  her  dearest  interests  only  to 
one  who  will,  with  her,  believe  the  same  things,  and  walk 
by  the  same  rule  in  the  house  of  God ;  one  to  whom  she 
has  fair  reason  to  believe  that,  in  future  life,  she  can  look  up 
with  pleasure,  and  not  with  shame ;  one  whom  she  can 
reverence ;  one  to  whom  she  would  feel  it  to  be  no  honor  to 
dictate ;  and  then,  by  all  the  appliances  of  affectionate  obe- 
dience, and  by  a  chaste  conversation,  coupled  with  fear,  it 
becomes  alike  the  study  and  delight  of  her  life,  that  by  his 
consciousness  .of  domestic  delights  at  home,  as  well  as  by 
the  enjoyment  of  public  honor  and  usefulness  in  his  own 
generation,  "her  husband  shall  be  known  in  the  gates  when 
he  sitteth  among  the  elders  of  the  land." 

The  subordinating  influences  of  Episcopacy  (as  I  have  else- 
where shown)  teach  to  every  virtuous  woman  the  same  thing, 
and  cause  her  thus  to  rejoice,  while  she  honors  the  guide  of 
her  youth,  and  ministers  daily  as  a  helpmeet  to  his  comfort, 
spiritual  and  temporal.  Hence,  among  both  Episcopalians 
and  Presbyterians,  all  the  modern  clamor  for  "  women's 
rights  "  are  unknown,  and  they  were  for  above  two  centuries 
unknown  among  Independents.  They  have  a  specific  origin 
under  modern  Congregationalism. 

Under  the  Jewish  economy  the  children  of  Israel  were  to 
marry  only  in  their  own  tribe.  This  was  ordered  for  a  reason 
peculiar  to  that  nation  in  reference  to  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah.  Still,  under  the  New  Testament,  when  these  dis- 
tinctions of  affinity  are  abolished,  there  would  exist  much 
wisdom,  which  would  be  evolved  in  a  vast  increase  of 
human  happiness,  if  each  of  our  radical  divisions  of  church 
polity  should  marry  only  with  those  of  like  bsliof.  Then 
two,  being  agreed,  could  walk  and  dwell  tcgelher;  and  then 
"domestic  bliss,  the  only  joy  of  paradise  ?E/ped 

the  fall,"  or  rather  which  has  been  restored  to  his  people  by 
Him  who  "  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it,"  would 
31 


362  PHILOSOPHY    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

have  found  a  comfortable  abode  in  many  households,  where 
the  tinsel  attractions  of  wealth,  or  rank,  or  beauty,  have 
brought  together  those  trained  most  differently  under  two 
antagonistic  and  opposing  forms  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment and  where,  in  consequence  of  inattention  to  this  salu- 
tary arrangement  in  due  season,  by  coldness,  distrust,  partial 
affection,  religious  prejudice,  and  sectarian  rancor,  they  are  to 
each  other  as  husband  and  wife  through  life,  at  least  too 
often,  sources  of  annoyance,  pain,  or  disgrace.  As  there  is 
but  one  faith,  so  those  only  who  entertain  the  same  views  in 
relation  to  its  nature  and  influence  should,  with  each  other, 
enter  into  the  covenant  of  their  God.  Then  a  unity  of  affec- 
tion and  design  through  life  might  be  rationally  expected. 

Under  the  plastic  hand  of  church  government,  men  and 
women  of  different  tribes  and  races,  when  educated  reli- 
giously, in  the  same  doctrine  and  worship,  notwithstanding 
the  essential  variety  of  constitution,  and  the  want  of  precise 
identity  of  nature  which  they  bring  together,  can  rind  a 
mutual  companionship,  while  those  of  the  same  race  by 
nature,  when  trained  under  different  forms  of  regimen,  will 
always  discover  some  sources  of  discord  which  can  be  re- 
moved only  by  a  change  of  religious  faith,  or  endured  only 
by  a  large  amount  of  the  grace  of  forbearance.  Low,  indeed, 
must  be  his  esteem  of  religious  principle,  who  can  yield  his 
conscientious  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Savior  to 
the  earth-born  love  of  a  fellow-creature  ;  and  far  from  the 
enjoyments  arising  from  a  conscience  void  of  offence  must 
her  pleasures  be  who  relinquishes  her  parental,  early  reli- 
gious belief  to  one,  who,  by  influences  bordering  on  compul- 
sion, constrains  her  to  change  her  church  polity  and  all  its 
inseparable  influences  in  life,  as  the  price  of  domestic  har- 
mony. Let  all,  then,  who  have  been  favored  with  pious  do- 
mestic training,  when  about  to  assume  parental  relations,  "  see, 
and  know,  and  consider,  and  understand,  that  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  hath  done  this."'  u  Ponder  the  paths  of  thy  feet,  and  all 
thy  ways  shall  be  ordered  aright." 


